Circle of Friends
by Hype
Summary: Hello there. I'm back.(I promise!) CHAPTER 4 IS FINALLY UP AFTER 2 YEARS!... Stars Dead Sexy Sirius, James Potter, and the old gang. First fic that isn't on the trio, but you people seem to like it. (!!!) Please R&R. It's Worth Your While!
1. And So We Begin

**Circle of Friends**

***Chapter One***

**by Ashley (Hype)**

  
  
  
  


**NOTE: This is a relatively long series, but it will be worth your while...BTW, it kinda starts at a rush, but it gets better.:)**

  
  


Sirius Black has been around women since January 13, 1966, the day he had been brought into the world, or more precisely, into Dublin, Ireland. His mother and three older sisters raised him along with his little sister, Marreline, without the help of their father, Conor Black. Conor Black was a wizard with "the curse of the Irish," or more commonly known as a drinking problem. Conor, like many others, was a large supporter of the Irish Quidditch team. One day, while under the influence of Bergen`s Fire Whiskey, he attempted the Wronski Feint and plummeted to his death. 

This devastated the Black family. However, Sirius was only two at the time of the accident and his younger sister only six months old, which left them to be cared for by four women. Well, in Sirius`s case, perhaps fifty or so women later in his life. You see, Sirius was a womanizer and one creative little devil, as his mother, Angela Black, learned early on as he progressed through his childhood....

_The smell of freshly-baked sugar cookies wafted through the air and found young Sirius Black`s nose. Almost immediately, his mind began to form a plan on exactly how to make those cookies his..._

_Sirius skidded into the kitchen, the soles of his shoes screeching against the tile floor. "Quick, mother! The Minister of Magic just landed in our back yard! He demands to speak to you!"_

_Angela stood there, arms folded across he chest, her face dubious._

_"You go on out!" Sirius continued desperately, flailing his arms about in the air. "I`ll guard the cookies!"_

_Angela stood still, looking down at her frantic son._

_"Quick! Hurry!" he exclaimed, but to no avail. He knew she wasn`t buying this act again..._

_"Si, just how stupid do you think I am? The cookies are for_ after_ dinner."_

_Sirius sighed and slumped away from the kitchen. He was bored of staying home all day. Staying home in Ireland...And cookie-less, at that...._

In fact, it took him for more years to convince his mother and sisters to move to England. It took hours of long and drawn-out conversations, which was unmeasurably grueling to a wide-eyed eight year old mischief-maker, to convince them that England would indeed be better for the lot of them. None the less, he convinced them. On a cold and bitter morning, the Blacks packed their belongings and set off for England. Little did he know, England would be where his life truly began.

  
  


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Now ten, Sirius wandered through the muggle village near his English flat, which was crammed with various shops, cafes and people, his messy jet-black hair occasionally falling into his blue eyes. He was looking for his kind, the wizard folk. They weren`t too hard to find in a muggle crowd, or in any crowd for that matter. Most of them wore odd-colored robes and were accompanied by owls perched upon their shoulders, hooting happily. However, much to his great disappointment, he was not having much luck.

Attracted by a candy shop`s display in the window, Black sauntered into the store, his eyes already feasting upon the assortment of sweets. That was when he saw him. In the furthest corner of the store, a boy about his age was madly shoving candies into his pockets while the owner of the shop was lazily reading a comic book. Although, this was no ordinary boy. He was a wizard. Sirius could tell easily by the dark blue robes and the snowy owl who looked over his shoulder disapprovingly. Sirius smiled and walked over to him. 

"Hey," said Sirius, making the boy nearly jump out of his skin. The boy stood guiltily, his mouth opened slightly from shock. Surely he thought he would be punished. Si, however, had other plans. "So you`re one too?"

The boy blinked, still staring at him with a shocked face. "Huh?"

"I asked, are you one too?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably, from his situation or from the weight of all the candies, which were sticking out at odd angles from under his robes, he did not know which. "Er..One what?"

"You know," Sirius began, leaning toward the boy as to not be overheard. He whispered, "a wizard."

If it were at all possible, the boy`s eyes grew wider. "Wha... how... how did you...you..."

"I`m one too," explained Si simply. 

A look of relief washed over the boy`s face. "Och! You scared the be jesus out of me! I don`t think I`ve seen you before. What`s your name?"

"Black. Sirius Black. But you can call me Si," replied Sirius, holding out one of his hands to greet him.

"Oy, the name`s James Potter. I reckon you`ll be calling me James, seeing that I have no nickname," James said with a grin, shaking Sirius`s outstretched hand. Sirius and James laughed and started walking out the door, or more accurately, running out the door. As soon as James took one step, the sweets that had been stuffed up in his robes fell, flooding the floor with hundreds of candies. They exchanged quick glances before dashing out of the store, the owner`s angry voice howling behind them. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

  
  


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Sirius and James entered the Black threshold, finding Marreline and a red haired girl playing a muggle game of Exploding Snap. The red haired girl raised her head, her eyes lingering on Sirius, then straying to James. At the sight of James, she instantly stuck out her tongue, as if on habit, scowled, and went back to playing the game. 

James looked madly at Sirius, why, Sirius did not know, and stormed off to Sirius`s room, Sirius following reluctantly behind him. Once there, James slammed the door behind them, shaking the pictures hanging on Sirius`s wall.

"What is she doing here?!" roared James.

Sirius was extremely confused at this point. "Who? My sister?"

"LILY EVANS IS YOUR_ SISTER_?!" James howled, his face turning red from anger.

"What?" Sirius asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah...That`s what I`m thinking about now, save I would have committed suicide by now if Lily was my sister!"

"Lily? Lily who?"

"Lily! Your sister, Lily!"

"I don`t have a sister named Lily," Sirius began, holding out his fingers and ticking them off as he counted his sisters. 'Let`s see, there`s Flora... Rosemary... Thyme...and Marreline. No Lily there..."

"Erm... So Lily isn`t your sister?"

"Uh...Who is Lily, anyway?"

"The nasty little brat downstairs..." James began, scrunching his button nose up in disgust. "I hate her. Always have and always will."

"Why?"

"Because she`s a pesky little know-it-all brat that will go into Slytherin!"

Sirius Black rolled his eyes, doubting all of this was true. She seemed nice to him... After all, she had only stuck out her tongue at James, not him. But then again, nearly every girl seemed nice to him...

  
  


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The feuds between Lily and James went on at a steady pace as they neared entering Hogwarts for the first time. Sirius truly did not see what was so bad about Lily Evans. In fact, he had somewhat befriended her, though he kept their friendship hidden from James, who would surely explode if he knew that _his_ best friend had befriended his _worst_ enemy.

"Si," Lily began, looking up from her stack of books, "why does James hate me?"

Sirius well recalled the exact words James had told him when he had asked the same question. He shook his head mentally, deciding that she wouldn`t take the news well. "I don`t know, Lil."

"Oh...okay. Well, what do you want to do now?" she asked, snapping her copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ shut.

"I don`t know... Having fun would be nice," Sirius said sarcastically, knowing that Lily would never agree to that.

"Okay!"

Sirius nearly fell off his bed at her words. Lily just didn`t strike him as the person who liked to have fun. James, on the other hand, was an extremely different story... "Er... You do?"

"Oh, honestly, Si. I know how to have fun!"

"You do?"

Lily was starting to look angry. Sirius shivered, remembering the last time she had gotten angry. You see, Lily had quite a temper. If anyone thought James`s anger was anything, multiply it by ten, square it, multiply it by ten again, cube it and add and thousand. Roughly, you would end up at about one fourth of her anger. It surprised him to no end that Lily did not leave a trail of wounded victims, or at least not often, in her wake when she went on a "raging rampage," as James and Sirius referred to her outbursts. He almost laughed right on the spot, pitying her future boyfriends. She sure would keep a tight chain around their necks.

"Okay! I believe you, Lil! I believe you!" 

Her face relaxed and she smiled. "Let`s go spy on Potter!"

This time, Sirius did fall off the bed, but caught himself with his arms before his face hit the floor. "WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

"Damn...I was hoping I was having a delusion..."

"Well, no such luck, Mr. Black. Let`s go," she said, offering her hand to help him up. He took it and got to his feet, making him stand a head or so taller that Evans. 

_"Now?"_

"SIRIUS CORNELIUS BLACK!"

"Yes, ma`am. Whatever you say..."

She smiled sweetly up at him, perhaps thinking something along the lines of ' _sucker.' _ She took his arm and dragged him out of his own room and out of his flat, onto the grassy field that was his front yard. 

  
  


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They walked all the way to James Potter`s house, which was a rich estate at the edge of the town, complete with its own Quidditch field, magical gardens and lake. Sirius walked up to the front gate confidently, accustomed to the splendor of the large estate. When he reached the iron gate, a butler greeted him.

"Welcome, Master Black. You will find Master Potter in the fencing room. A Russian fencer has come to challenge him. Master Potter is in the process of winning as we speak. Or shall I say, "Getting Mediaeval on his ass?" That`s what you refer to it as, am I correct?"

Sirius grinned and nodded while Lily giggled behind him.

"Very well, then. Would the young mistress care to be escorted to the door?" the butler asked, turning his head to Lily. Lily looked terrified at the very idea of being escorted by anybody over fifteen. Sirius chuckled a bit as Lily Evans shook her head furiously, her green eyes wide and unruly red curls flying every which way.

The butler smiled curtly, seeming to understand. "Very well, miss. I trust the two of you will have fun?"

"Yes, Jeeves. We plan on it," Sirius rushed, getting a bit irritated at the butler`s bantering. Lily grinned mischievously at Sirius, which, perhaps, sent the wrong message to good ole Jeeves, for he smiled and nodded, saying, "I see."

Lily giggled and took Sirius`s arm and started towards the estate`s door. They could distinctively hear the butler mumble, "Kids today... I swear..." It was all they could do to keep from bursting with laughter.

  
  


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James was, as Sirius would say, getting mediaeval on the Russian`s ass. And, much to his dismay, sweat was pouring down his back. As this was a formal match, he had to wear his formal fencing uniform, which he absolutely _loathed._ The material was sticking to him, forcing him to put more effort into his motions, though it appeared as if he was moving along quite nicely to the spectors of the match.

Ah, the spectors. He had been surrounded by them since he was born. Of course, it wasn`t as if he did anything special. His family was extremely wealthy and an extremely respected family, regarded as the tops of the wizarding society. So naturally, he had people breathing down his back twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. If it were at all possible to have another day or hour, James was quite positive they would breathe on them as well.

The Russian challenger, Marcus Chinoviski, thrust his sword quickly at Potter`s chest. James avoided it, quickly turning to the side, only to be charged at again by Chinoviski. This move did not in anyway help Marcus, for it only made James Potter more grumpy then he currently was. Potter, who had been practicing his new move, swished his sword in a sideways motion, bring the side of it to Chinoviski`s wrist, causing the sword to fly out of the challenger`s hand and across the black marble floor, clattering as its metallic surface skidded a good seven feet away. 

Marcus Chinoviski was rendered without a weapon. The two boys stood for a brief moment, staring into each other`s eyes before dashing madly across the floor to retrieve the fallen object. James, however, was the quicker of the two, for he dived through midair, landed next to the sword and grabbed it quickly. He jumped to his feet in an instant, bringing one tip to the sword to Marcus`s throat, the other to his chest. The Russian gulped nervously. "Game over," said James in a low voice, as though he was growling. The crowd burst into applause, giving him a standing ovation, as they always did. 

  
  


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Lily, hooked arm in arm with Sirius, nearly waltzed right into the Potter Estate, knocking a second butler over in the process.

"Oh...I had no idea he with this rich!"

"What does that matter?" asked Si, who had never really taken in the surroundings of James`s house. Lily just laughed at his blank face.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Lily asked, twirling a lock of her curly red hair around her index finger. Sirius stood there, staring down at her in a near trance-like state. She looked so adorable when she did that. _How could James hate her so much?_ He thought, looking down into her almond-shaped brilliant green eyes. It just didn`t seem possible...humanly, even... to hate a creature like Lily Evans.

"Hello? Sirius? SIRIUS?!" 

Sirius was shaken, literally, back to his consciousness. 

"Are you okay?"

"Uh....yeah...I`m fine."

Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at his curiously. Deciding that he was indeed back to the Sirius Black she knew, mischief glinted back into her eyes. "Show me Potter`s room! I`ll hide there... say, in the closet... and you go find him and bring him to his room. Start talking... Talk about all the good stuff. You know, girls...embarrassing moments... is he gay?

"WHAT?!" Sirius screamed, causing a maid to look at him, completely startled out of her wits by his outburst. Sirius couldn`t believe his ears at the last thing she had said.

"Well, it was just an idea..."

"JAMES POTTER? GAY?! What would that make ME?!"

Lily grinned. "His sex toy, of course."

"Lil! I`m ELEVEN years old! Not eighteen!"

"Well...You never know, Si. You just never know..." Lily found Sirius`s reaction quite amusing, watching his black hair sticking up at all ends, his frantic gestures of frustration. She tried not to, but a giggle escaped her throat.

Sirius huffed a bit and started down a stone corridor, taking longer strides than necessary, muttering the whole way, "I am NOT gay...I am NOT gay... I am NOT gay..." He knew that he wasn`t, but just saying it out loud made him fell better. Lily quickened her pace and scuttled along the endless corridors and stairways.

  
  


They reached James`s room some twenty minutes later and walked in. Lily turned to Sirius quickly and grabbed his upper arms, looking up into his dark blue eyes. "You know the plan, right?"

"I am NOT gay."

"Si, shut your yap. I was joking!"

Sirius was relieved beyond explanation. The truth was, he was as far from gay as you could get. He worshiped women. "Thank you GOD!"

Lily suppressed a smile, then turned serious. "This is a vitally important mission, Black."

"How is it that you can make everything a vitally important mission?" Sirius asked, remembering the time he found her raiding his kitchen refrigerator for large quantities of food. Lily had been looking for chocolate by the pound, for it was her favorite sedative choice of food. She had just finished off a fight with James and was terribly upset and angry, come to think of it. She was making something she called "Chocolate Stuff", which had about as many calories as there were people in the world. None the less, she had eaten two or three pans full of it, claiming it was a "vitally important mission". 

"Si, it is important to me. I need to know all the dirt in his life," she grinned. "Preferably if he is gay and if so, who is he seeing?" Lily drew the back of her hand to her forehead and mocked a reporter in an overly-sappy tone, "Our readers simply _must_ know!"

Sirius laughed. It was true, James was quite the socialite. The public eye had kept a close watch on James Potter since the day he was born, July 31, 1965. "What ever you say, Miss Evans..."

Lily gave a distinctive nod before shooing him out the door, closing it behind him.

  
  


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James Potter lowed the swords from the challenger as his parents rushed towards him from the side of the room and dragged him off for a picture or two for Witch Weekly. As it turns out, at age eleven, James Potter is quite an eligible bachelor. 

"Mr. Potter, what were you thinking during this fight?" asked one reporter. 

James personally thought that the answer was rather obvious. "Er...win."

"James! What did you think of your opponent?"

"Well, I never really got to meet him, actually. I just fenced with him..."

"James Potter! Do you have a girl in your life?"

"Who? My mother?" he asked, his head beginning to hurt from all the commotion about him. However, the reporters laughed and smiled, saying things like, "He`s so adorable!" "That kid has quite the sense of humor!" and so forth. That`s when the questions began to get a little out of hand for his taste. He tried to answer as many as he could before he became extremely irritated.

"What`s your favorite kind of cookie?"

"Erm... Chocolate chip."

"What kind of shampoo do you use? Our readers must know!"

"Uh... The blue stuff." Again, the audience laughed, though he had no clue as to why they did. 

"What exactly is your shoe size? 

"No comment."

"Is it true that you will be joining Hogwarts this fall?"

"Most definitely!"

"Who is your best friend?"

"Sirius Black."

Sirius`s ears perked up at the mention of his name over the crowd of hysteric and adoring fans of James Potter. Sirius, being no midget, looked over the heads of the crowd and called, "OY! JAMES!" 

James turned his head and spotted Sirius, who was waving his arms about frantically over the crowd. He grinned and made his way over to his best friend, reporters and admirers following in his wake. Grinning, James clamped a hand on Sirius`s shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Cover your ears, Si. You`re about to get your first taste of fame." Sirius looked at him in terror as James opened his mouth and said loudly over the mob, "This is my absolute best friend, Sirius Black!"

It went dead silent for a split second, then more voices burst open noisily with questions. Sirius was stunned that anyone would want to know anything about him _or _his relations to James. The press gathering soon turned into a field day over Sirius and James, declaring that both of them were to be put on the Most Eligible Wizard list at once. Sirius had to admit that he rather liked being a most eligible wizard. Already such advances in life at the age of eleven...

  
  


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It took nearly an hour for James and Sirius to detach themselves from the public eye. And when they did, they went straight for James`s bedroom, where little did James know, Lily was lurking about in his closet. 

"So Si, how did you like your fame, eh?" James asked, flopping down onto his bed in spread-eagle fashion.

"It was okay..."

James raised one of his black eyebrows, a small smile lingering on his lips as he propped himself up on his elbows. "Just 'okay'?"

"Alright, alright... It was great." Sirius said reluctantly, though a grin was clearly plastered upon his face.

The look on James`s face seemed satisfied as he let his elbows collapse back onto his bed, his hazel eyes reverting to the high ceiling above him. "Just you wait... The next Witch Weekly will have your face on the cover."

Sirius was dubious, though he wouldn`t mind if it did happen. He changed his track of though, remembering Lilly was in James`s closet. "Why do you hate Lily?" Si asked abruptly.

"Er...she`s a know-it-all that will go into Slytherin..."

Sirius winced knowing that Lily was listening to their every word from behind the closet door. Perhaps he could get a less pompous answer if he kept going. Perhaps there really wasn`t a reason as to why James hated Lily so much."That isn`t really a good answer, James. Can`t you think of something better?"

James rolled his eyes, suddenly sitting in the upright position, legs hanging off the bed, feet just barely skimming the wooden surface of the floor. "Sorry if my brain isn`t working at it`s all high and might level right now, Si. It _is_ a Saturday, you know."

"Seriously James, why do you hate her so much? She`s really not that bad..."

James`s hazel eyes grew wide and he turned his head to Sirius, the look of shock as if it was the time when Sirius first met him returning once again to his features. "Sirius Black, Lily Evans isn`t snogging you, is she?" 

Sirius fell out of his chair; it seemed to have become a pattern whenever he was around either Lily or James since both of them say such abrupt things. "POTTER!" shrieked Black, who was still on the floor, to shocked to move. "Where did you get_ that_ idea?!"

James Potter looked down at Si. "Well, it just came to me..."

Sirius threw his hands up over his head in both exasperation and anger, striking a resemblance of an over-excited orchestra conductor. "It just came to you?!"

"Well...yes..."

"It certainly didn`t come to me!"

"So Evans isn`t snogging you?"

"Good heavens, no!"

James mumbled something that sounded like "good...", which cause Sirius to jump back to his feet.

"James, are you hiding something from me?" Sirius demanded, pounding a fist on the nearby table, causing the glass of water on it to topple over. Sirius didn`t notice the glass break when it hit the floor. Instead, his eyes were fixed intently on James Potter. 

"What?"

"Do you like Lily Evans?!"

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me!"

"LILY EVANS?!"

"Yes! Lily Evans!"

James turned scarlet, which Sirius was glad Lily couldn`t see. "Er... where did that come from?"

Black crossed his arms over his chest impatiently. "It just came to me!"

"Oh, sod off..."

"Answer me, James Ramsey Potter, this instant!"

"You sound like my mother...."

"ANSWER!"

"Er...No. I don`t. There."

"You hesitated, James."

"I did not!"James whined. He may have been a rich boy, but he was an extremely stubborn one.

"Yes, you most certainly did! Am I your best friend or not?! I have the divine right to know who you like and who you don`t like!" Sirius retorted, glaring at James, who was now three shades deeper than his usual blush.

"Fine, then! I like her, okay! Happy now?!" he gasped miserably.

  
  


Lily, having pushed her ear up too forcefully on the closet door, fell out of the closet, tumbling onto the wooden floor....

  
  


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**DISCLAIMER: I own the plot. Almost all characters and names mentioned belong to J. K. Rowling , her publishers, and her sponsors. Marcus Chinoviski goes to whoever will claim him. Jeeves goes to whoever wants him...He is a really nice butler, people. **

  
  
  
  


**NOTE: Okay...***sighs nervously***.... This is my VERY first L&MWPP ever. Er... Is it good? It will, in fact, be a romantic comedy later on. Moony and Wormtail will come later. ** **Well... let me know what you think. BTW, I would like to thank all of the people who reviewed my other stories! You people are the best! I plan on putting a complete thank you to the people who have/ will review(ed) my Dark Wind series and/or this series.** **Ta!**

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Back to the Past

**Circle of Friends**

***Chapter Two***

**by Ashley (Hype)**

  
  


Chapter Two: Back to the Past

  
  


Sirius couldn`t breathe. Try as he might, his lungs seemed incapable of taking in the air around him. James sat, still on his bed, completely slack-jawed for a full thirty seconds. Lily looked up through her red curly hair that was momentarily covering her face at Sirius and over to James, whose hazel eyes were wide with shock, much like hers. In most cases, Sirius would have been the one to break the deafening silence. However, he could hardly breathe, let alone speak. 

"Lily Evans I _HATE_ you!" James screamed at the top of his lungs, shattering the moment.

Lily, still wide- eyed and in massive shock, seemed to not register what he was saying to any degree. She was still stuck on the sentence James had said before she fell out of his closet. 

A now extremely flustered James Potter quickly jumped up from his position, crossed the room, grabbed Lily`s arm and pulled her up. Having hold of her upper arm in his death-grip, he dragged her to the door and flung her out into the hall, shouting obscenities the entire way. He slammed the door shut in her face, shaking the pictures that were hung on his walls. Evans, however, was not quite ready to leave yet. In fact, she persisted to scream at James through the mahogany door of James`s room...

"I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID, POTTER! LET ME IN OR I`LL CALL THE WITCH WEEKLY REPORTERS, YOU STUBBORN GIT! LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, pounding her fists on the door furiously.

James would not have it. "THERE IS NO WAY ON THIS EARTH I`M LETTING YOU IN NOW, EVANS!"

"WHY THE BLOODY NOT?!"

James stood, back pressed against the door, dumbfounded. Well, he had just confessed his fancying of her, his worst enemy, out loud, that`s why. However, James was not about to admit it again right to her face, or more technically, through the door. The only thing that came out of his mouth was, "Lily Evans, I _HATE _you!"

"SIRIUS WAS IN ON IT TOO!"

James`s eyes grew wider and he turned to look at Sirius, who sank glumly into his chair, his face in his hands. "Si, is this true?" he asked, a bit hurt at his friend`s betrayal to him. Sirius Black seemed at a mix of saying yes and no at the same time, but could only manage: "It was her idea..." in a low voice, obviously ashamed at his actions.

James Potter`s hair was standing up on frantic ends, matching his patience. "Get out," he growled through gritted teeth.

"But I..."

"Get out!" 

"James...listen..."

"GET OUT!" James shouted in fury, his right eye slightly twitching, his hands clenched into fists, his jaw set incredibly square. Sirius obliged reluctantly, sulking out of the room with his dark head hung, James`s betrayed and angry eyes following him. The door slammed shut behind his back. James could be heard from inside his room, throwing breakable things around, allowing them to crash into his red-painted walls. 

Sirius Black looked at the door for a moment, then turned to Lily, who was visibly upset with tear stains down her cheeks. Sirius would have normally felt terrible for her, but under the given circumstances, he scowled. "Thanks a bloody bunch, Evans." He snarled, turning away from her and walking down the long corridor that lead to the front doors.

Lily watched him guiltily, kneading her hands behind her back as he walked away from her. His shoulders were slumped, his head was down and his hands were shoved into his pockets. The clicking of his shoes echoed in the long corridor, bouncing off the wooden floor and high ceilings. The light from a large stained-glass window reflected down on him, outlining him in a golden light before he passed into the shadows. Tears welled in her eyes and her lower lip quivered as she watch Sirius Black, the light-hearted and jolly boy, sink into despair.

  
  


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Sirius looked up at the Hogwarts Express, its bright red surface gleaming in the sun`s light, a steady pillar of smoke protruding from it. He stood next to his mother and four sisters, all of whom were in tears to see him go away from home for the first time. People busied around the family, not acknowledging them.

Thyme, who was three years older than Sirius, would be the only one to share the year with their beloved Sirius Black. However, Thyme had been sorted into Ravenclaw in her first year and could only hope that Sirius would be the same. It was in the back of their minds that they knew he would never be placed in Ravenclaw, though. As smart a fellow as Sirius may be, he was a troublemaker- which did not particularly agree with the Ravenclaw`s high standards. He was sure to be put in Slytherin or Gryffindor, for they were the most cunning and mischievous of the houses. 

Angela Black drew her son into her arms, crying so desperately to the point of hysterics. She held onto him like glue, not wanting him to go. Truth be told, as much as Sirius got into trouble, none of them wanted him to actually leave. He had grown a permanent figure in their everyday lives. To have him leave for a whole year would be to deny the light in their lives. 

Sirius, however, was ecstatic. Which new student wasn`t? For eleven years he had dreamt of going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. His crying mother and siblings couldn`t even begin to dampen his joy. He put an arm around his mother and smiled, which perhaps did not help, for she cried even harder. 

"Look, mum...I`ll be fine. James and Lily will be there. So will Thyme. I won`t be alone..."

"It`s that James I`m worried about... You two promise you won`t get into trouble? Promise?"

Sirius shifted his weight from one foot to the other, biting his lip. The whole reason he had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts was of two things. One being that you could use magic, the other being that you could get into all kinds of mischief _with_ magic, which would eventually lead to being in trouble if you had James Potter as a best friend. Just as he was about to make a phantom of a promise to his mother, the Hogwarts Express whistle sounded as if on cue. 

"Bye, mum! Love you!" he shouted loudly over the noise, grabbing his trunk and heading off towards James, who was frantically waving his arms about in the air, standing on the tips of his toes and craning his neck up to look over the vast see of wizards and witches. In one sweeping instant, Sirius disappeared into the crowd, never to be seen by his mother for almost a whole year.

  
  


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James and Sirius clambered through the isles searching for an empty compartment. Sirius, who was getting quite angry at not finding one in an instant, flung the nearest compartment door open and threw his things inside, declaring loudly: "We`ll stay here!" James, who had been rather amused with his frustrated best friend, looked over Sirius`s shoulder and saw Lily Evans, looking startled by Sirius`s outburst. Instantaneously, James turned on his heel and started off to find another compartment to stay in. It would have been successful if Sirius Black hadn`t grabbed the collar of his robes and pulled him in, slamming the door shut behind them.

"Get over it," Sirius mumbled into James`s ear before flinging him into a seat. 

James straightened his black robes a bit and said, "Right then," before going into absolute silence. It looked as though he wanted to say more, but it was obvious he could not bring himself to do so. Lily went back to reading a thick book on Potions, looking as if Sirius had never bursted into her compartment.

Sirius Black looked at Lily and James. They looked ridiculously out of place sitting next to each other for the first time in months. He shook his head, partially from amusement, partially because it just felt right when you saw two enemies sitting next to each other without getting into some sort of a fight. Just looking at the two sent the memory of that day in the early summer when James had confessed liking his nemeses. He had kept the memory tucked away in the back corner of his mind, like an old, dust-covered and forgotten book in an abandoned library. But at this moment it chose to come forward, shining its awkward light on his thoughts.

James had admitted to his liking of Lily. Sirius had been shunned by James for two weeks before James would even consider talking to him. Eventually, James confessed that it just wasn`t fun without Sirius. They quickly made up and went back to the good ole days of trouble making. Still, Sirius was not quite sure if James still had feelings for Lily.

Lily, however, was a different story. She had been so stunned by James`s statement that she shut herself up in her own little world, only allowing Marreline, his little sister, past her bedroom door. Perhaps she wouldn`t talk to Sirius because she felt ashamed of dragging him into everything, or maybe it was because Sirius neglected her because she did it. To this day, Sirius Black is still unsure of the whole ordeal.

"Er...How was your summer, Lily?" Sirius asked clumsily, becoming uneasy from the silence around them. 

She looked up from her book, a scowl on her face. "I believe you know exactly how it went," she snapped. James jumped in his chair from the harshness of her voice. Lily went back to reading her thick book. Sirius and James exchanged glances and James shook his head, sending a look of "don`t press on". The two boys still recalled her "raging rampages" she had when she became angry. 

Sirius almost chuckled, but abruptly stopped when the compartment door burst open and shut quickly. A pale boy with dark brown hair and wild brown eyes stood near the door, panting desperately for breath.

"SAVE ME!" he choked through gasps of air. 

"What? From who?" asked James, looking at him with curiosity.

"PETER!"

"Er...who?"

The boy had now caught his breath. "Peter Pettigrew...He`s been on my back since I stepped on this blasted train! I just got away and-"

Footsteps were heard outside the compartment door. Someone called, "Remus? Remus, where are you? Playing a game of hide and seek, eh boy?"

Remus shuddered involuntarily and looked around at the three people before him. "Hide me, please!"

Sirius and James nodded and grabbed him, lifting him over their heads and stuffing him into an overhead compartment just before the door slid open. 

"Have you seen a boy named Remus Lupin?" asked a small, pudgy boy with mousy light brown hair. This was obviously Peter Pettigrew, for a slight whimper of terror was heard from the overhead compartment. The three shook their heads with impassive faces. Peter looked crest fallen for about a split second, then caught sight of James.

"Oy!" he cried, "You`re James Potter!"

Sirius mentally felt like punching James for being famous. Now there was the possibility of them never getting rid of Peter. 

"Er...no. I just look like him." James said hesitantly, wondering if the boy was dense enough to believe the lie.

"Oh...Well, in that case, I`ll be on my way then. Tell me is you see Remus?"

Lily, James, and Sirius nodded quickly and Peter stepped out of the compartment, sliding the door shut behind him. Sirius let out a long sigh of relief. James reached up and undid the latch on the overhead compartment, letting Remus Lupin fall out from it. He landed with a thud, but quickly got to his feet, dusting his deep red robes off.

James extended his hand to greet the boy. "Oy, I`m James Potter."

"As I well figured," said Lupin smiling and taking his hand. "Remus Lupin."

James smiled and gestured toward Sirius: "That`s Black. Sirius Black. But you can call him Si." 

Remus shook hands briefly with Sirius, then caught sight of Lily. "And who is this lovely lady?" he inquired, his eyes shining in a peculiar way. James stiffened and Sirius realized that James would not under any circumstances introduce Lily to anyone. Sirius was about to introduce her, but Lily cut him off.

"I`m Lily Evans," she said, smiling with such a sweetness that made Sirius feel nauseous. Ole Remus Lupin was a goner. When Lily Evans turned on her charm, the male species was rendered helpless. Remus smiled back like a love struck puppy, but quickly wiped the dreamy look on his face away.

"So, what house do you reckon you`ll be in?" he asked, looking around at the three of them. 

James stepped forward. "I_ will_ be in Gryffindor. It`s in my blood." 

Remus smiled at him, noticing James`s pompous attitude. Still, he did not mention it.

Sirius looked as though he were lost in thought. "Well, I reckon I`ll be in either Gryffindor or Slytherin. I really don`t know much about the houses, so I suppose it`s not a very accurate guess." He shrugged, not really caring about his placement. As long as he was Hogwarts, Sirius would remain content.

"And you, Miss Evans?" asked Remus, continuing his smile, which seemed to be permanently plastered on his face.

She looked up from her book. "Ravenclaw, of course," she said as if it was the most obvious thing the world would ever see. "What about you, Remus?"

Remus pressed his lips together and pondered for a moment. "I think I`ll be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor or Hufflepuff... I really don`t know, actually. I seem to fit all of the houses, really."

Lily smiled and raised one eyebrow. "Well, we will all find out tonight, won`t we?"

The three boys nodded in agreement, James a bit reluctantly, just as the train came to a screeching halt.

  
  


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The four new friends looked up at the Hogwarts castle in awe, the rain beating down on their faces. It stood hundreds of feet tall, towering over the grounds, casting a dark shadow upon them. A busy-looking young woman rushed them inside the tall doors of the castle, exclaiming in a shrill voice, "Come, come, first years this way! First years this way!" The first years did as they were told and walked into the Entrance Hall. They were wet and muddy from the thundering storm outside and when they walked, their shoes made odd squishing sounds. They stood now in the Entrance Hall huddled together in tight groups, their teeth chattering endlessly. 

Then, all of a sudden, the students heard a cackling laugh above their heads. They looked up to see a small, floating figure that was grinning madly with insanity. "Aww...Look at the ickle first years! Hmm... What ever should I do with you this year?" he asked, laughing himself into hysterics.

The busy-looking woman`s head shot up and she shouted up at the figure, "PEEVES! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CALL THE BLOODY BARON ON YOU, YOU MANGY POLTERGEIST!!!" Peeves sped of fat a fast pace, zooming down one of the long corridors, howling with laughter. 

The lady straightened her robes and introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Head of the Gryffindor House. "Come along, now, you`re a bit late. Don`t want to miss the Sorting Ceremony, do we? No, I didn`t think so," she rambled, mainly talking for the sake of talking, for hardly anyone was paying her attention. Their eyes were far to engrossed with the interior of Hogwarts.

  
  


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Sirius, James, Lily and Remus stood nervously in queue waiting for their names to be called. Sirius let out a shaky breath. He would be the first to be sorted into a house out of the four. 

"Asante, Amanda," was called forth by McGonagall. The hat was crammed quickly onto her head and in a split second the hat screamed "SLYTHERIN!" Amanda walked off the stage to take her seat amongst the Slytherins as they welcomed their newest member. 

"Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called. Sirius walked forward and put the hat upon his head after giving a rueful grin to his friends that were still waiting in queue. Almost immediately the hat began to talk into his ear.

_Well, well, well...what have we here? Let`s see.... You`re very smart, yes... Though a bit too troublesome for Ravenclaw, eh? Hmm... Very loyal. A bit too hardcore for Hufflepuff....Now Slytherin. Yes, you`d be a fine Slytherin. Very cunning, you are. Also ambitious...Slytherins love ambition...But wait! What`s this I see? Brave and valiant and all around mischievious... Hmm... That has caused you quite a bit of trouble, no? Well, quite frankly, with a mind like yours you`ll always be in trouble..._

Sirius began to grow impatient. It had been a full two minutes while the hat babbled endlessly in his ear. The Great Hall was deadly silent, waiting for the Sorting Hat`s final decision. _Well...spit it out already!_ Sirius thought in frustration towards the hat.

_Tell you what, young Sirius. I`ll make you a deal. You get to pick between Slytherin or Gryffindor. Which do you chose?_

Sirius thought for a few moments, then remember what house James said he was likely to be in. He made up his mind.

_Are you absolutely sure? _

_Yes._

_Alright then. Better be in..._ "GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius let out a long sigh of relief and walked towards the Gryffindor table, who was applauding him loudly for being the first Gryffindor that year. 

He sat next to an older boy who had moved over and introduced himself as Daniel Barbecus and turned to watch the other get sorted. Soon, Lily Evans was called and Sirius waited impatiently as she sat there looking quite ridiculous with the overlarge hat that covered her entire face, only her flaming red hair could be seen sticking out a foot or so longer for almost as long as he had. Finally, the Sorting Hat`s voice rang out announcing she was in Gryffindor. Quite frankly, Lily looked crest fallen from not being in Ravenclaw. However, her spirits picked up a bit when she spotted Sirius and sat next to him.

"I was just so sure I would be in Ravenclaw," she said, looking a bit distant. Daniel Barbecus, who had kept a lingering eyes on Lily, spoke up. 

"There there... Gryffindor is the best of the houses, you know. We get all of the glory," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. A boy next to Daniel nodded before cramming a piece of bread in his mouth. "So, what is you name?" Daniel asked, become more infatuated by Lily each minute. Lily smiled, turning on her irresistible charm. Sirius could almost visibly see Daniel melt into his seat. Several boys near her suddenly turned to Lily with sudden interest. It seemed as though Lily possessed a magnet that attracted every male within a thirty foot radius. "Lily Evans," she said sweetly, looking at him with her brilliant green eyes shining in the candlelight. This time, not only did Daniel melt, but nearly every boy around him did. Even those who had other girls clung to their arms. "And you?" 

"D-D-Daniel B-Barbecus."

"Nice to meet you," she said smiling, then averting her attention back to the stage. "Oh look, Sirius! Remus is about to get sorted!" she exclaimed happily. Every boy turned and shot eye daggers at Sirius, obviously jealous that she knew him. Sirius shrank back in his seat a bit and turned to look at the stage. Indeed, Remus had just placed the hat on his head. Only a moment later it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" 

Remus happily took off the Sorting Hat and placed it back on the stool before he skipped off to the Gryffindor table to sit with his friends. They chatted a bit until Peter Pettigrew`s name was called. The three of them turned and Remus crossed his finger, praying for Peter not to be placed in Gryffindor. His prayers were answered when the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"

However, Peter took no notice of the hat`s announcement. He trotted over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Remus. Remus Lupin groaned and banged his forehead continuously on the table`s wooden surface. Suddenly, James Potter was called to be placed. When Peter caught site of him, he exclaimed, "I KNEW IT! IT`S JAMES POTTER!"

Sirius and Lily groaned in unison at Peter`s stupidity, but kept their eyes on James. He strode confidently from the queue, not a mistake in his practiced stride, and placed the hat upon his head. There was no hesitation what so ever as the hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!!!" to the audience. James took the hat off his head and smiled his award-winning smile before walking across the Great Hall and joining Sirius at the Gryffindor table.

Now it was the girls` turns to melt. Sirius was sure that one of them would faint from being James`s presence eventually. He was right. A fourth year girl fainted when James asked her a question. It all happened so fast that James just sat there slack-jawed for a full minute before he did anything. The girl was soon revived, but James was sure never to ask her a question for the rest of the night. 

  
  


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Remus, Sirius, and James were laying on their four-poster beds talking about these past events. Peter had left for the Hufflepuff dormitories, much to their great relief, after being shooed away by a very angry Professor McGonagall.

"Lily Evans is in Gryffindor...I can`t believe it..." James grumbled.

"I`m glad Lily`s in our house!" piped Remus, propping himself up on his elbow. "Why aren`t you, James?"

Silence fell across the room. Sirius and James exchanged glances, leaving Remus even more confused. Sirius rolled onto his back and craned his head to the side to look at James imploringly. He had a question- a question he had asked several times before, but to no avail. "James, why do you hate Lily?"

James sighed and pushed his glasses up on the ridge of his nose. "I really don`t want to tell you..."

"Why not? James, what is so bad about Lily?" 

James closed his eyes and swallowed hard, then began to tell his story. "Lily Evans and I used to be great friends a long time ago. We`ve known each other since we were babies..." he paused, only to sigh again. "When I was eight, her mum was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, Lily`s mum was pregnant. She died four months later, with Lily`s little brother in her womb," James said, his throat beginning to seize up. "Lily went into depression....I tried to cheer her up, but nothing seemed to work. I tried everything; at least, everything you could try when you were eight. The loss was too much to bear for her. One day I tried to tell her that it was all in the past and....and we got into a fight. She didn`t want to think of her mum as the past. She just wouldn`t have it," said James, with much difficulty. James turned over on his stomach and looked at his hands, obviously trying to muster up to go on. "After the fight, we didn`t talk for months. Then you came, Sirius," said James, looking up to face his best friend. "When you saw me trying to steal all of that candy...Well, it was for Lily. I was trying to apologize to her. You see, Lily has a sweet spot for sweets..." James Potter smiled, but it quickly faded and his brow furrowed. "All this time..I didn`t hate her; she hated me. She still does."

Neither Sirius or Remus knew what to say. They just laid on their four-posters, stunned into silence. It had never occurred to Sirius that he had never seen Lily`s mum when he was over at her house. He had only seen her father, Jonathan Evans, who was constantly working outside on some project. A feeling in the pit of his stomach rose. It was an empty feeling; the kind you get when you feel upset. He never knew....

James rolled over on his bed, curling the covers up around him, and reached for the light, turning it off. The room grew dark, only allowing the small light from the room and the gray hands of sleep envelop them. Sirius began to drift off to sleep, but before he did, he thought he heard crying coming from James`s bed.

  
  


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**DISCLAIMER: I own the plot, though it`s terribly sad in this chapter. David Barbecus, Amanda Asante, Thyme, Rosemary, Angela,** **Flora, and Marreline Black belong to me. All other characters and names mentioned belong to J. K. Rowling and her publishers and her sponsors. Yada yada yada....**

  
  


**NOTE: Well, this was kinda a sad chapter, but it was *important*. ESPECIALLY the conversation between James, Remus, and Sirius. (HINT, HINT:)**

  
  


******THANK YOU`S: (1st chapter) You realize this adds like 5 kb, right?******

  
  


**E-wok (is he? I didn`t notice...)**

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**Burrow Gurl (one of the faithful reviewers out there...KUDOS! :D**

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**AND A MAJOR THANK YOU TO EVERYONE OUT THERE WHO REVIEWED AND I DIDN`T MENTION THEM. Chances are I wrote this chapter before you reviewed, so I didn`t have time to catch your name. But trust me, your review is well appricated. Every time I see a new review on the Statistics page, I flip out and go read it, grinning like a great idiot.:) **


	3. First Day Records

  
  


******Circle of Friends**

***Chapter Three***

**First Day Records**

**by Hype (Ashley)**

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The next morning, Sirius Black woke to find an empty dormitory. Panicking, he checked his watch to find that it was nearly a quarter of the way into breakfast. Not wanting to miss the first day of school (or rather the events), he quickly pulled his robes over his head, grabbed his wand and books, and dashed off to the Great Hall.

Sirius soon reached the Great Hall and flung the massive doors open, causing many heads to turn in his direction. The few students that had noticed him laughed before returning to their breakfasts. Sirius strolled over to the Gryffindor table, where James Potter had saved the seat next to him for Sirius. Sirius sat down and helped himself to toast and marmalade, taking no notice of his disarrayed appearance. Lily looked up from a large book that was neatly laid against a pumpkin juice jug. She raised an eyebrow at Sirius.

Sirius, noticing the look on her face, asked innocently, "What?"

Lily simply giggled, causing Remus to look over at them. The boy that had been talking excitedly about Quidditch to Remus rambled on, not noticing that Remus`s back was facing him. Lupin caught sight of Sirius and smiled calmly. "Sleep well, Black?"

Sirius`s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he noticed a few people giggling and pointing all down the Gryffindor table. "Er...yes?" he said uncertainly. Becoming a bit frustrated at the growing laughter, he added, "What is it? Why is everyone laughing?" This only caused an uproar in the laughter, as students from other tables started laughing, too. James, laughing into his plate of eggs, was rendered useless to Sirius`s aid. "_What is it?!_" Sirius repeated. James let out a snort of laughter, his face (or what was visible of it) looking oddly red against his black and wild hair.

Lily Evans, between howls of laughter, said, "Your- face- is- is- _GREEN!_" 

The Great Hall erupted with laughter.

_"WHAT!" _sputtered Sirius indigently. A girl next to him quickly pulled out a mirror from her purse and handed it to Sirius, laughing all the while.

A long, piercing bellow of outrage sounded from Sirius.

  
  
  
  


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"Don`t talk to me," Sirius huffed at Remus Lupin.

"What, are you still sore about the face thing?" Remus asked innocently, quickening his pace to match Sirius Black`s.

Sirius stopped dead in the middle of the fifth corridor and turned to look at Remus. "Yes, Lupin, I am still sore about the face thing. I`ll put five Galleons on a bet that I am the first person to enter the first day of school at Hogwarts with a _green face!_"

Remus shrugged. "Well, I was just practicing a bit of magic before classes..."

Sirius crossed his arms, his blue eyes bulging slightly. "Just practicing?" Sirius retorted. _"Just practicing? _Your _just practicing _landed me an hour and a half in the hospital wing while Madame Potts tried to figure out what you did! _I looked like a bloody alien!_"

Remus laughed, which didn`t help the situation. "Really? A_ whole_ hour and a half? Wow, I amaze myself-"

  
  


"Don`t talk to me!" Sirius repeated, walking away again. Saying this was rather pointless, as all of the Gryffindor first years had Transfiguration at this time. 

Much to Remus`s disappointment, their Transfiguration class was shared with the Hufflepuffs, which meant that Peter Pettigrew would be there. Furthermore, when Remus checked the seating list outside the door, he saw that he was to be sitting next tp him. Remus groaned and banged his head on the door a few times before entering the classroom, and a few students that passed by stared as he did this. Nonetheless, he took his seat next to an ecstatic Peter, trying to focus his attention on the professor.

Minerva McGonagall looked exactly how she would act. She stood at an average height, hair pulled back in a tight bun, thin lips, and kept looking over the rim of her black-framed glasses sternly. She was not a force to be reckoned with. What was more, she was the head of the Gryffindor house and took no hesitation in deducting points from her own house. 

"Now," she began, "I am your professor. You will treat me with the utmost respect," she said, eyeing James, who was quietly sniggering. "Today, we will be turning a twig into a piece of straw."

The class groaned in unison, all save Lily and Remus, who had spent the night practicing magic up in their dormitories. Transfiguration was a subject most of the students were eager to learn, for it wasn`t everyday that you could turn your mother`s old coat into a new pet. However, it looked as though it would be a long time until any mothers` coats would be changing.

The only people who managed to make their twigs turn into a piece of straw where Lily, James, and Sirius. In fact, Sirius had gotten the gist of it right away, which Remus only thought this to be even more discouraging, as his twig would simply roll back and forth before turning into a large brown snake that would quickly burst into flames and slither across the room while on fire. Professor McGonagall was not amused.

Remus wasn`t the only one who was making their twigs do odd things. Peter had somehow managed to turn his twig into a large, live bat, which fluttered across the room wildly while its creator was jumping from desk to desk trying to reach it. McGonagall, beginning to think this lesson was not a good idea, had frozen the bat just as a Gryffindor girl by the name of Arabella turned her twig into a vicious and quickly-growing plant. Havoc began to break in the room as students began to scream and run from the vicious, man-eating plant (which turned out to be slightly venomous) and a new, giant, fire-breathing butterfly; all the while, Professor McGonagall was trying to control the room, students, and various creatures. Eventually, the room was evacuated and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was brought in perish the trouble. 

  
  
  
  


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The Gryffindor`s next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins. Those who weren`t burned from the butterfly or intoxicated with the plant`s venom stood outside of the classroom door, anxiously awaiting the moment the third year class would be let out and they would be let in. If Defense Against the Dark Arts was as interesting as their last Transfiguration class, they were in for a ride.

"McGonagall was nice, wasn`t she?" Lily asked.

James snorted. "Yeah, as nice as a raging gorilla. Did you see the way she was looking at me? I thought she was going to bite my head off!"

Sirius nodded in agreement. "That woman is going to be breathing down our backs the whole of this year."

"I don`t see what you`re all bothered about," said Remus, digging in his bag for a spare quill. "She didn`t do much except for fend off beasts... Even then she had to bring in this bloke," he said, sticking his thumb at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Just as he did this, the door swung open and third year students quickly charged out of the classroom, knocking down Remus in the process. After the classroom had trampled over Remus, James offered his hand to pull Remus back up to his feet.

  
  


Remus dusted his now-battered robes off and walked in the classroom, taking a seat in the front row next to his best friends, who were staring with undivided attention at the tall wizard in front of them, which was indeed an amusing sight. He stood around six feet tall, wore midnight blue robes and half-moon spectacles, and had an extensively long beard that was graying from it`s faded auburn color. More importantly, he was _smiling._

The professor waited for his students to finish taking their seats before he cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose you are all nice and ready for me after the incident in the Transfiguration room, aren`t you?" he asked amusedly. A few people laughed a bit. "Right, down to the matter at hand... I am Professor Dumbledore and, obviously, I will be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. In this class you will learn interesting spells in which will enable you to do a lot of really neat things and, more importantly, defend yourself against the Dark Arts." 

Again, the students laughed a bit. Sirius and James were beginning to think that this Dumbledore fellow would be a lot of fun. 

"As you all know, we are in the midst of the darker times, so I will teach you a very useful spell that will...ah, give you light. Alright then, repeat this after me," he said, raising his wand at shoulder length and aiming it in a Slytherin`s direction. The Slytherin clenched the sides of his desk, fearing the oncoming spell. _"Lumos!" _shouted Dumbledore, and a thin jet of light shot out from the tip of his wand and landed square in the middle of the Slytherin`s forehead, illuminating it with a patch of bright light. This time, nearly everyone laughed, save a few sour Slytherins who did not find the dark/light joke amusing. Dumbledore simply smiled before saying _Nox_ and making the light disappear.

Dumbledore grabbed for a pair of muggle sunglasses on his desk and put them on, making him look oddly out of place. "Right. On three now....One...Two...Three!" Forty or so lights shot towards Dumbledore. "Did everyone do it? Yes? Alright then, say _'Nox'_ and the light will go out. Try it." They did. Forty lights went out. 

The class went on with useful, hands-on, easy spells that would help the students around their way to classes. By the end of the class, they had learned Lumos, Nox, Alohomora, Expelliarmus, and Finite Incanteum, just in case they were to mess up horribly on a spell. Indeed, the students left the classroom excited to have actually done magic on their first day of school.

  
  
  
  


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Next, much to the relief of Sirius and James, was their lunch hour. Students of all years filed into the Great Hall for their first lunch. James and Sirius quickly made their way to the Gryffindor table, sat down, and began to shovel huge amounts of shepard`s pie, curry, mashed potatoes, and radishes onto their plates. Lily and Remus calmly trailed and eventually sat across from them. Almost immediately, a bouncy blonde girl sat down next to James Potter. James looked up quickly at her, then at his potatoes, and then back up at her before shoveling his potatoes in his mouth. 

Seeing that James was not about to make conversation, she said, "Hi! I`m Baylor."

Sirius piped up a bit in his chair. "And I`m Sirius."

Baylor frowned a bit at him before turning back to James, who was now working on his shepard`s pie. "Um," she began, twisting a lock of blond hair around her index finger, "I`m Baylor...I`m in...um..."

"Ravenclaw?" Lily offered, stifling a snigger. Remus laughed and whispered something that sounded suspiciously like _yeah right_ into Lily`s ear. Sirius stopped his eating to watch.

"I`m in Gryffindor," she said. 

James finally looked up. "Really? What year?"

"Um...Third."

Remus said bluntly, "Tell me, Baylor, how did you manage to get that far?" Lily burst into giggles and tried to cover her reddening face with her Potions book to pretend she was reading, which was not working well considering that it was turned upside down. Baylor did not understand Remus`s comment, so she bit her highly-glossed lips and turned back to James.

James took a long swig of his cold pumpkin juice. "I`m in first."

  
  


It wasn`t long before Baylor was completely engrossed with James. To be precise, it took about a whole of fifteen seconds before she was infatuated with him. Baylor soon called a few of her friends over to sit with them. Sirius, Remus, and Lily soon grew bored of the conversation (if you could call it a conversation, for Baylor kept giggling idly) James and Baylor were having and their eyes wandered elsewhere.

Remus cast an amused look across the table at Davis Barbecus, who was in the process of laughing while shoving green beans up his nose while some people around him cheered him on. Remus Lupin turned to the left to look at James, who turned from the giggling Baylor and her friend to face Remus. "Promise me you will never do that, James."

"No need to fret, Remus," James said in a matter-of-fact voice, "I don`t think I could fit five green beans up my nose, let alone _thirteen_. Diane and Baylor reckon I have a cute little button nose... Funny, eh? I always thought my nose resembled an enlarged jellybean. Leave it to them to declare it a button."

Remus laughed a bit, then stopped short when he noticed Lily was gone. "Oy! Si! Where has Lily gone?"

Sirius stopped listening to a guy who was babbling endlessly about Quidditch and looked over at Remus. "I don`t know...Wasn`t she just next to you?"

"Yes, but she just disappeared. Shall I go look for her?"

Sirius let out a laugh. "In this place? I`d reckon you`d die before you found her. She probably went to use the toilet or something. We`ll see her in Potions anyway, Remus. Don`t bother."

But it did bother him. It wasn`t like Lily to not excuse herself... She had been rather quiet during their first two lessons.

  
  
  
  


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Lily Evans sat in the back corner of the library pretending to read a thick book on spells. To Madame Winsten, the librarian, Lily looked as though she was indeed reading the book. However, Lily had her mind on other things; or more namely, James Potter. Ever since he had said that he liked her, Lily had been fighting the urge to like him back. She hated him, did she not? 

Lily sighed and turned another page of the book to keep her disguise. _No,_ she thought, _I don`t hate him... Not really...We used to be best friends, right? But then my mum died... and we fought...We fought! _Lily mentally slapped herself for fighting with James...What he was trying to do was really the best for her and she knew it. _I`m such an idiot!_ she thought, snapping her book shut and shoving it back into her bag. She stood up and quickly flung her bag over her shoulder and hurried off to her next class.

  
  
  
  


The Potions class was in the dungeons, and the Gryffindor`s legs were a bit weary from going down seven flights of steps under the main floor of Hogwarts. The fact that they had Potions with the Slytherins did not heighten their spirits. Indeed, it only made them sink lower and sulk more, making them appear to almost be Slytherins themselves. What was more, the Potions Master was the Head of Slytherin, and all of the older students had claimed he was shrewd and cared only for his own house members.

They were right. As soon as the Gryffindors and Slytherins entered, he directed them to separate sides of the room. "Alright," he snapped, "Lets get this over with! I am Professor Vinicar and you will obey me at all times or points will be deducted. If you are late for class, five points are deducted from your house," he said, looking sternly at the Gryffindor half. Sirius involuntarily gulped. "If you make a potion wrong, I will tease you."

"Why, sir?" asked Remus.

"If I do not call on you and you say something, I will deduct five points." Remus gulped. "And because I am in such a good mood today, I will only deduct four from Gryffindor for that outburst," said Professor Vinicar, scowling horribly. 

James couldn`t help it: "You`re in a _good _mood today?!"

Vinicar`s lips thinned and his brows pushed forth in an angry knot. "Any disrespect shown to the me will result in punishment! _Ten points from Gryffindor!"_

Sirius found this to be extremely unfair. "_Ten points?_ But Professor-"

"Shut up, you! Detention for the_ both_ of you! Return here at half past seven to carry them out!" he shouted, then turned to take the list of roll call on his desk. A Slytherin boy with greasy black hair laughed loudly, but the professor smiled smugly in his direction and began to read the roll call.

  
  
  
  


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"I can`t believe it!" Sirius shouted loudly at dinner. "_Detention on the first day of school!_ That`s_ got_ to be some kind of a record!" 

James smiled pleasantly. "It`s great, isn`t it? We`re already breaking records." Remus laughed and Lily paid them no mind, as Daniel Barbecus had started a conversation on the complexes of Transfiguration. 

Sirius, however, simply huffed. "That Slytherin didn`t even get in trouble, and he was making more noise than we were! He was laughing his bloody head off!"

"Well, those older kids said he was that way... He favors the Slytherins. He was one himself," said Remus in a matter-of-fact tone,

James looked at him over the rim of his black-framed glasses. "Tell me, Remus, do you research everything? You are never short on information."

Remus grinned. "No, I just have a highly retentive mind."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Retentive? That`s a wholly terror of a word... Where`d you learn it?" Remus sighed. James looked up from his plate. "Remus, what time is it?"

Remus pulled up the sleeve of his robe and looked at his watch. "It`s half past seven. Why?"

Sirius and James exchanged disbelieving looks and shouted in unison,_ "DETENTION!" _ With that, the jumped out of their seats, Sirius nearly tripping over his, and sprinted out of the Great Hall at break-neck speed.

  
  
  
  


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Having ran down seven flights, Sirius Black and James Potter were looking quite a sight when they entered the Potions room in the dungeons. When the opened the door and stumbled in, Professor Vinicar was waiting for them with the black haired boy that had laughed loudly and gotten away with it. "You`re late," he snapped, apparently having acquired a permanent scowl.

"Sorry," James apologized, running a hand through his unruly black hair. "We got caught up at dinner and-"

"Shut up. You two...James Potter and, ah...Siru Blacked?"

"Sirius Black, sir."

Vinicar waved his hand dismissively in the air. "Whatever... You two will serve your detentions with Mr. Snape here. I want you to be scrubbing the dungeon floors."

"All of it?" James asked, his mouth dropping slightly.

Snape sneered while Sirius was thinking along the same line as James was. Vinicar snorted. "No, you twit. Follow me," he said, taking a few strides towards the door. He looked back over his shoulder at Sirius and James. "Black, Potter, grab the toothbrushes and bucket by the door on the way out. Severus, follow me, please." Severus Snape sneered while he passed James and Sirius and followed the Potions Master out the door. James spat after him. "Slytherin piece of smug shit," he added before grabbing one of the two toothbrushes on a nearby desk and a bucket. Sirius followed the suit, frowning all the while. 

As it turned out, Professor Vinicar had a terrible detention for them to serve. He had led them to the filthiest room any of them had ever seen. James, not being accustomed to any dust at his posh estate, wrinkled up his nose in disgust, only to sneeze three times afterward. Sirius simply sighed, already becoming exhausted before he even begun to serve his detention.

"Now," said Vinicar, wheezing slightly from the overwhelming amount of dust, "You are to use those toothbrushes you have to clean this entire room. I want it to look like new."

"Er...Professor? There are only two toothbrushes..." Sirius trailed off.

"I know that, boy."

"Then what`s this bloke to do?" asked James, jabbing his thumb at Severus Snape, who had his arms crossed squarely across his chest.

Vinicar ginned nastily. "He is to supervise you...make sure you don`t make any mistakes-" James opened his mouth to protest, but Professor Vinicar held up his hand to make him silent. "You are to do as I say. If this room is not as I have requested by the time I return, you will finish serving your detentions tomorrow during my fifth year class."

"But we`ll have to skip a lesson for that!" Sirius exclaimed.

Vinicar smiled nastily again, making James shudder. "Then you had best finish it before I return, hadn`t you?" Sirius let out an indigent sound. With having said that, Professor Vinicar stalked out of the room, his black robes billowing behind him. 

James sighed and then turned to Severus Snape. "What are you in here for?" 

"I set a snake on the Herbology teacher," said Severus, his chest swelling proudly. "Much better reason for a detention than yours, isn`t it? Yet here I am, about to watch you two do the dirty work," he said with a sneer. It was all Sirius could do to stop himself from punching Snape right in the face. James must have sensed this, for he grabbed a handful of clothing in the back of Sirius`s robes to hold him back. "Come on, Sirius, we had better start. I don`t want to miss Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow." Sirius drew back and grabbed the remaining toothbrush.

"That`s right, you knaves. Now get to work," commented Snape.

As it turned out, the dungeon room they were assigned to clean had approximately one quarter of an inch solid dust on everything in it. At first, James and Sirius had scrubbed a desk, occasionally dipping their toothbrushes into a bucket of water; this took about twenty-five minutes. During this time, Snape had grown tired of throwing insulting lines in their direction and has dusted off a book on one of the shelves and was now sitting on top of the only clean desk in the room, throughly engrossed in its pages.

James noticed the title read _The Book of Black_. His brow furrowed and he nudged Sirius in the ribs. "Hey, Si, what do you reckon that Snape fellow is doing with a book on Dark Arts?" Sirius looked up from his scrubbing at Snape`s book. "I don`t know and I don`t care. It`s his own business, not mine," he answered. Sirius sighed and threw down his toothbrush. "Oh, who am I kidding? I do care. I`ll bet he`s going to follow Voldemort."

James gasped. "You said his name!"

"So? It`s just a name."

This struck James. "I never thought of it that way before... I guess you`re right. It`s only a name, isn`t it?" James bit his lip, looked up at Snape, who was still engrossed with the book, and down at the bucket of soapy water between he and Sirius. Somewhat hesitantly, James reached for the bucket, grabbed it and splashed it across the floor; the dust was instantly washed away. James looked back up at Snape, who appeared to have not noticed. Sirius simply gaped, then reached for his own bucket and splashed it across the floor.

Detention went much faster using this method. When Professor Vinicar returned, he was astonished to see the room sparkling, though probably not as much as Severus Snape. When the Potions Master reappeared, Snape snapped The Book of Black shut and threw it over his shoulder and opened his mouth, poised to criticize James Potter and Sirius Black. When he realized his surroundings were positively clean, he appeared to have taken on the characteristics of a common fish, opening and closing his mouth, his eyes unearthly wide open. There was nothing to criticize.

  
  


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It was nearing the end of the month, and Sirius and James had begun to break a long list of rules already. After ten detentions in three weeks, the two were becoming even more renowned than Witch Weekly`s article had made them. In fact, Sirius was almost as well- known as Potter was. In several article clippings, both Sirius and James were noted for there high abilities and talents in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration and the promising of one of them being the valedictorian of their class. 

  
  


Lily Evans, however, had not been mentioned, though she was currently at the top of their class. Indeed, she did pour over loads of books for her grades, but she was also as mischievous as her friends. On one than more occasion, she had thrown the Hogwarts Groundkeeper`s cat out of her dormitory window, hoping just once that the cat would run away. She had also been to see the headmaster, Professor Dippet, upon doing this. She had also acquired a growing hate for the Potions Master and Severus Snape. During breakfast one morning, she had cursed Snape to the point that his greasy hair had burst into bright purple flames, though no one knew (besides he friends) who had actually caught his hair on fire. All of this, or she claimed, was to experiment in her magic abilities. If her father known how to send a Howler, Lily was most certain that he would.

Remus was at the top of his class in one subject: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Indeed, he was always in the top running for valedictorian, but Lily had beaten him in everything but this one subject, though she was only trailing behind Remus by a few points. Quite frankly, Remus did not care at all about his grades. Truth be told, the only thing Remus truly cared about was getting as far away as possible from a certain Hufflepuff. Peter had been waddling after Remus and his friends every time he saw them, thus acting as an extremely talkative shadow. Remus didn`t like shadows.

  
  


In fact, Remus didn`t seem to be so prone to the end of September, either. He seemed to be coming down with a violent case of some type of flu, and had stayed up all night howling in pain. The next morning, Minerva McGonagall, upon seeing his disarranged state and hearing the concerns of his room mates, had ordered him off to the infirmary, where he would be fussed over by a very flustered Madame Potts. Most of the Gryffindors were concerned about him, though not nearly as much as James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Petter Pettigrew. These four had decided to give up their lunch hour in order to go visit him during his stay in the infirmary.

James Potter, who was flanked by his closest friends, reached out with his hand and rapped on the door of the infirmary. After a few loud crashes of metallic objects sounded from behind the large mahogany door, the door flung open, revealing a very out-of-sorts Madame Potts. "What do you want?" she snapped, looking at them with her hands on her hips. Lily noticed that bits of her hair was sticking out at odd places as though she had been in a fight.

"We...er... We wanted to see Remus?" said Sirius hesitantly, though it sounded more of a question.

Madame Potts threw up her hands in the air in a flustered manner. _"Fine! You_ see if you can get _him_ to cooperate!" she shouted, opening the door open wider, stepping aside, and motioning them in. Sirius heard her mumble something that suspiciously sounded like _good bloody fecking luck _in a strong Irish accent. 

They immediately spotted Remus Lupin, sitting alone on a bed, surrounded by mounds of chocolate and Berrie Bott`s Every Favor Beans, his arms crossed over his chest and a sour, pouting look on his face. He appeared to have not notice them in the slightest. 

Lily immediately rushed to his side and knelt down. "Oh, Remus! Are you okay?"

He looked at her and his brows knitted even closer together. "NO! No, I am not bloody okay! Madame Potts wants me to wear this!" he shouted, holding up a pink flowered hospital gown. James and Sirius couldn`t help it and burst into laughter, doubling over. Remus snorted indigently. "It is NOT funny!" he shouted, throwing the gown at them. Lily stifled a giggle.

Peter, who had remained quiet the whole time, spoke up. "Well, Remus, I think you should wear it. After all, Madame Potts is-"

_"NOT MY FASHION COORDINATOR!!!_" bellowed Remus. Lily burst into laughter openly now. "Besides that point, she expects _me _to eat_ all_ of this chocolate by_ myself_!" he said, gesturing to a mountain of chocolate at his bedside that stood from the floor to Sirius`s full height. "I mean, I know I have a sweet tooth, but I don`t want to have my entire mouth be one!"he pouted. 

Sirius, James, and Peter were looking odd. They did not notice anything else in the entire room except for the chocolate mountain. If there was one word to describe the looks on their faces, it was hungry. James looked down at Remus, he expression as if he was asking a question. Remus sighed and spread his right arm, gesturing for them to help their selves. "Do as you wish," he said, running a hand through his dark brown hair. The three boys made a mad dash around the bed and started shoveling the chocolate into their mouths as quickly as possible.

  
  


Lily, however, had not paid any attention what so ever to the heap of chocolate at Remus Lupin`s bedside. She looked up at him with her brilliant green eyes from her kneeling position. Her brows furrowed. "Remus, why are you in here?"

Remus suddenly looked a bit nervous and shifted his weight around in his hospital bed. "I`m sick, Evans. You know that."

"Are you really? I mean, you seem fine..."

"I`m fine, Lily, really. I`m fine... Just sick is all. It will pass."

Lily raised her eyebrow, making Remus nearly squirm under her suspicious stare. "Then why were you screaming last night? I could hear you, Remus, all the way from the girls` dormitory."

Remus Lupin bit his lip. "It was... I was just...It..." he stuttered.

But was it was Lily never found out, for at that precise moment, Madame Potts, who had be looming about them and casting disapproving looks at the three boys eating Remus`s chocolate, came over and said that they had to leave this instant or they would all have to visit Headmaster Dippet. Reluctantly, the four left the infirmary, the boys looking longingly at the remains of the chocolate and Lily looking at Remus with an eyebrow raised.

  
  
  
  


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Later in the Gryffindor common room, Lily, Sirius, and James sat by the dying fire in the late of the night alone. Sirius and James had not been able to go to bed, as they both were experiencing the worst stomach aches of their lives. Lily had not been able to sleep either, though not remotely for the same reason as Potter and Black. She had been wondering nonstop about Remus since she had left him. She planned to throughly scour the library the next evening in desperate search for anything that would help clue her on what Remus was experiencing. If he didn`t tell her, she would find out anyway.

James groaned. "I`m going to get_ fat," _he said, rubbing his hand over his flat stomach.

Sirius chuckled, but stopped abruptly because it upset his stomach. "James, you can`t get fat... You`re too skinny."

"I`m not skinny!" piped James, a touch of whining in his voice.

Sirius looked over at James. "Look at you... You`re an absolute twig. You can`t even get chubby, let alone fat. Your metabolism is too high."

James looked very confused. "My what?"

  
  


Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. "Forget it. Look, I`m going to bed, all right? Who knows, I might even fall asleep," he said, looking from James over to Lily. "Hey Lil`, don`t stay up too late, all right? Remus`ll be fine." Sirius reached his hand out and awkwardly patted her on the head. He turned and walked up the staircase that lead to the boys` dormitory. James, not wanting to be left alone with Lily, got up and stretched. "Yes, well, I think I will retire to the dorm too," he yawned, though Lily could tell it was completely fake. She watched James stumble up the stairs.

Lily Evans sighed and looked back at the nearly extinct fire before her. She curled up in the red pouf and stared at the glowing coals, thinking of how she and James had been. They had been absolute best friends and seemed as though they were joined at the hip. Of all of her memories of them, one of them was extremely prominent.

_ They had been about seven and a half and had wandered off over the hill side of the Potter Estate, carrying a small basket between them. James had led the way, for her had known the area better than Lily. Eventually, he had led them to a small meadow of wild flowers that had a very old tree in the center of it. They had climbed the tree and sat on the largest branch they could find. There they opened the basket and had eaten a small lunch, their legs dangling ten feet in the air on either side of them. It was a warm, sunny day and a slight breeze had blown, swaying the leaves, branches, and the meadow of flowers below them._

_"So, Lily," said James, "what are you doing this weekend?" he asked, taking a bite of his peanut butter sandwich._

_Lily took a sip of her tea from her flask. "Nothing, really. Thought I would come and visit you, actually."_

_James smiled a toothy grin which showed quite a bit of peanut butter from his sandwich stuck on his teeth. "We can play hide and seek with Jeeves!" he laughed._

_Lily laughed along with him. Hide-and-seek was one of their all time favorite games; especially when it was played in the Potter Estate, for it was so massive. Adding Jeeves to the game only heightened their spirits, for it was quite amusing to see a fellow in his mid- fifties attempting to chase two hyperactive children._

_"You know what?" said James, taking another bite of his sandwich._

_"What?"_

_"You`re like my sister."_

_Lily giggled. "James, you don`t have a sister!"_

_James shook his head and swallowed the remainder of his peanut butter sandwich. "No, I mean you are my sister, you know?"_

_Lily smiled. "Really? I`ve always wanted a brother... Petunia is so mean."_

_James dusted the crumbs of his hands. "Hey, watch this," he said, standing up on the branch. Lily giggled as she watched him teeter against the breeze. "My cousin taught me this," he said, jumping for a nearby branch. Lily clapped and James grinned. He made another jump, but a stronger breeze blew and the branch James had been aiming for was blown out of his reach, causing James to plummet ten feet into the meadow of wild flowers. A loud, sickening crack was heard and Lily screamed at the top of her lungs. She quickly raced down the tree, climbing the branches as fast as her petite legs and arms would allow her. _

_James was at the base of the tree, howling in pain, his black hair becoming plastered to his forehead with sweat, clutching his bleeding leg. Lily dropped to her knees beside him and flung herself on to his chest, crying. "James...James...No, you can`t die! You`re my only brother! You can`t die! I love you!" _

  
  


Lily`s own words echoed in her head as she fell asleep on the large red pouf in the Gryffindor common room.

  
  
  
  


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**NOTE: I`M_ SOOOO_ SORRY!!! It has been such a long time since I posted this story! *whacks herself across the forehead* Bad Ashley! Bad Ashley! Well, now that that`s out.... Mmmm... Thank you to everyone who reviewed and (hopefully) everyone who will review! In other news, I would like to welcome sakura to our bandwagon!:) She is my first beta _(YIPPIE!:)_ Also, a special note to Static, who I would like to remind to hurry up with the sequel to Voices. *grins evilly* No pressure or anything, Static....:) I have now completed the series Grey Gaze if you would like to take a gander at it... Also, I will be posting the next chapters of Dark Wind and But Only The Moon Looked Down (ah, the long-lost-but-certainly-not-forgotten beginning of a series) _VERY SOON!!!_ Yes, it is true... I have gotten over my two- month writer`s block:) Well, enough of my rambling... _Get reviewing!!!_**


	4. New Discoveries and Curiousity

  
  
  
  


Circle of Friends

*Chapter Four*

New Discoveries and Curiosity

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by Hype

  
  


"In this life it`s hard to tell what`s false and what is true."

-I really have no idea who, I just thought it was a nifty quote.

  
  
  
  


James Potter starred out of the dormitory window. It was very early in the morning, and the dew on the Hogwarts grounds was still fresh and beginning to gleam in the rising sun`s light. James` hazel eyes scanned over the landscape, taking in the vast, still-shadowed stretch of trees across the horizon that was the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He didn't exactly know why it was forbidden, but his imagination had come up with many possible reasons. He was determined to go in to the forest one day just to see what it was like; it was also more than likely that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin would accompany him on this future expedition, as it seemed the three were often joined at the hip. 

James squinted out the window against the glare of the sun on the surface of the pane of glass and his eyes caught on a particularly interesting tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forrest which was now illuminated by the sunlight. He supposed it wouldn't have been interesting if the tree`s branches weren't flailing about in the air. He looked closer and noticed that there were several wizards at the base of it doing what looked like a desperate attempt to get closer to the vicious tree. Why they wanted to do this was beyond James, but the question was answered when a wizard succeeded and pressed a knot on the trunk of the tree, causing it to suddenly become still. James` eyebrows knitted together and he wondered why a tree like that would be permitted on the Hogwarts grounds. James pushed his glasses up further on his nose and shrugged, turning around to leave his dormitory and go to the common room; he didn't feel like waiting for Sirius to get up out of bed, as Sirius was quite prone to sleep in as late as possible, wake up in panic, and proceed to run around the room like a chicken with its head cut off in desperation to get ready for breakfast and lessons in the total time of thirty seconds. 

James Potter walked down the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor common room with ease only to stop halfway and find that the common room was completely deserted. In slight alarm, he checked his watch and saw that it was only a quarter past six in the morning. He sighed with relief, glad that he wasn't`t late for anything. As usual, the fire was newly cackling in the fireplace, compliments of the elusive Hogwarts house-elves. James had woken up early on a couple of occasions just to catch a glimpse of them but always ended in failure. He knew what house-elves looked like, of course, for he had several himself at the Potter Estate, but he was curious to see whether these elves looked any different from his own. Sometimes his curiosity got the better of him. Well, okay, most of the time.

James started towards the warm fire and the most comfortable poufs with the bottoms of his shoes clicking importantly on the wooden floor`s surface. As he neared his pouf of choice, he took his glasses off and set them on a nearby table, letting his eyes relax. He rubbed the sore spot on the bridge of his nose tiredly before he sat down on something that felt most unlike the familiar cushion of the pouf. A loud scream sounded and James quickly clamped his hands over his ears, trying his best to protect them from the horrid sound.

"JAMES POTTER!" screeched a familiar voice. 

James looked down, though almost in vain, for he was still without his glasses. He looked at a colorful blob that appeared to have a reddish something on top of its head. He blinked hard, his eyes coming in and out of focus. "Evans?" he asked, confused, still trying to gain his bearings.

"What on earth were you trying to do? Squash me to death?!"

Yep. It was Lily Evans. James shook his head, stood up, and reached behind him, grabbing his glasses off the table. He put them back on and looked down to see a very upset Lily Evans. No, upset was the wrong word; slightly furious, more like. "Good morning, Lily," said James evenly and pleasantly, as though he congratulating her victory of becoming the supreme ruler of the universe, which would, of course, never happen.

"What was the meaning of that?" she asked indigently, standing up and smoothing out a few wrinkles in her robes.

"What? The 'good morning'? Just being friendly, that`s all."

"Sitting on me is not what I would consider friendly, Potter," she snapped.

A smirk crossed James' features. "Well, speaking of friendly..."

Lily`s lips went tight and she suddenly looked suspiciously at James. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked, her head tilted slightly to the right, her red hair looking abnormally bright due to the morning sunlight that was now seeping through the windows in the common room.

James simply stared at her for a moment, caught in awe at her hair. Suddenly, he snapped out of it when she tapped her foot down on the floor impatiently. "I was going to visit Remus," he said, though he knew it was a complete lie. He had gotten up early because Sirius was snoring again, but he wasn't about to tell Evans that.

"Good. I wanted to go see him myself," she said importantly, shaking back her long sheet of red hair. 

"You don`t look like it," James said, smiling slightly as he took in her disarrayed appearance. Her curly hair was slightly frizzy, her robes wrinkled, and she had slight bags under her eyes. He also noticed that her mascara was dried in long streaks down her blushing cheeks. Completely forgetting that he wasn't supposed to be concerned for Lily, he asked, "Lily? Have you been crying?"

She suddenly looked down at her shoes. "Er...no, I haven`t..." 

James frowned at her and took a tentative step in her direction. "Are you sure? Why didn't you go up to your dormitory last night? Lily, are you okay?"

Lily was genuinely surprised at the sincerity James was showing after all this time. Nervously, she tucked a piece of her hair back behind her ear before she sat back on the large pouf again. James followed her action and sat next to her on the pouf, causing her to budge up a bit against the side. Lily bit her lower lip. "I...I must have just fallen asleep."

James frowned again. "Lily, that isn't`t true...Your mascara is all dried on your cheeks....You were crying. Lily, what`s wrong?" As soon as he said this, Lily burst into tears and flung her arms around him, clinging onto him for dear life. "Whoa, Lily....Clam down..." he said awkwardly, placing a free arm around her back. "Shhh...It`s okay..."

  
  
  
  


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Sirius Black burst into the Great Hall late for breakfast again. If he wasn't so prone to do so every morning, people would have been scared out of their wits, but it was now considered a common occurrence. Sirius quickly made his way over to the Gryffindor table were James was sitting. He took his seat, helped himself to the eggs, toast, and bacon before him. He looked across from him to see Lily and James talking before he looked back down at his food and began to shovel it into his mouth. Halfway thru his helping of eggs, he looked up again and spit out the remainder of his food onto his plate. Lily and James were sitting together. 

James was constantly looking up from his Transfiguration book to look at Lily meaningfully over the rim of his glasses. Lily, however, was so absorbed in her Charms book that she failed to notice James looking at her, let alone the food in front of her. Sirius gasped and noticed that James- James Potter, of all people- hadn't touched one bit of his food all morning. The eggs looked lonely and deserted, the pumpkin juice was full to the goblet`s rim and looked as though it was getting warmer, and, Sirius noted with great horror, none of the bacon was touched. He gasped again, then it truly hit him: James and Lily were sitting together. Together....oh, the horror.

"Er....Did I miss something?" Sirius asked, taking a break from his eggs and looking at the two people opposite him. Lily didn't say anything; however, he did receive a kick in the shin from James. James shot a I`ll-tell-you-later look at Sirius. Sirius Black nodded quickly and said, "Is Remus still in the infirmary?"

Lily looked up from her book at Sirius. "Yes, he is. Apparently his condition has not gotten any better. Potter and I tried to visit him early this morning, but Madame Potts told us he was much too ill to visit right now. I thought we should try again during lunch," she said. 

James nodded and looked down in front of him. Suddenly, he became aware of his food and he too began to shovel it into his mouth. Just as he started on his bacon strips, the bubbly third year girl named Baylor skipped over and took a seat across from James. "Hi, James!" she said, twisting a lock of her blonde hair around her index finger once again, idly giggling through her perfectly-glossed pink lips.

"Hi, Bala," he said lamely, taking a sip of what was left of the pumpkin juice out of his goblet.

She took absolutely no notice of her name being mistaken. "Um...What are you doing this weekend, Jamsie?" she asked, suddenly leaning forward and partially displaying her chest. Sirius snorted at James` new nickname, then leaned forward to get a good look at Baylor`s display case before sitting back down in his former position. Lily simply looked disgusted.

"Nothing," said James, pushing his glasses up on his nose, which had somehow managed to slide to the very end for the second time that morning.

Baylor giggled and Lily rolled her eyes. Baylor tossed her blonde hair back over her shoulder and tried to get James` attention. "I was thinking, Jamsie-"

Lily muttered, "That`s a first," under her breath, and Baylor didn't notice, as usual. However, Sirius did, and he snorted into his pumpkin juice, making it bubble up and slightly spill over the rims.

" - you could go to...um...Hogsmeade with me," she said hopefully, batting her heavily painted eyes at him (well, she had to balance the Ruby Tuesday lipstick somehow, which was, Lily noticed, quite possibly visible from Venus).

"Whatever," said James distractedly, pushing his now empty plate away from him and pulling his Transfiguration book open again. This was perhaps not the wisest thing to say, for Baylor suddenly went into a state of hyperventilation, jumped up, and ran to a group of equally hyperventilating girls at the other end of the Gryffindor table. 

"Oy, Jamsie," Sirius teased as he looked at the group of girls, "do you like that Baylor girl?"

James looked up at him blankly from his book. "Who?"

  
  
  
  


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Remus sat in the infirmary squinting against the bright sunlight spilling in through the windows. The entire infirmary was painted a brilliant white itself, and the sunlight was only reflecting off of it, making it appear even brighter than it actually was. He was starting to wish that he had a pair of the muggle sunglasses that Professor Dumbledore had worn during their first lesson of the year. Remus, despite the lack of sunglasses, continued to look around the room. No one was in the infirmary with him- not even Madame Potts. The cots were lined in two long rows on both sides of the room. Each cot had bleach-white, paper-thin blankets on them and one solitary white pillow. The floor, he noticed, was the only thing in the room that wasn't`t white. It was a gloomy blue-gray and had black streaks where the soles of the student`s shoes had slid across the surface. Also, the entire floor was somehow coated in a thin, sticky layer that made your shoes make odd squelching sounds when you walked. 

It felt oddly depressing sitting there alone in the infirmary with no one to talk to. He knew perfectly why no one was in there, too. Headmaster Dippet had ordered that the room be evacuated due to Remus` so-called 'abnormal' condition. In fact, Remus was quite positive that Madame Potts wanted to leave the room as soon as possible, for Remus kept throwing tantrums. Indeed, Potts had fled and locked the doors behind her, leaving his only companions to be a bed pan and a deck of cards. However, after an hour or so, Remus had grown tired of flipping the cards into the bed pan and had retired to his lonely, stiff cot once again. 

  
  


He sighed, and it seemed to echo across the room. He hated his condition. He hated being a werewolf. He hated not being allowed to tell his friends what he was. Of course, he was grateful that he wasn't`t kicked out of Hogwarts for being a werewolf, though. Somehow Professor Dumbledore had managed to convince Professor Dippet to let him stay. He supposed he was supposed to stay in the infirmary when he changed, but he knew that no matter how many magical wards they put up around the infirmary, he would still be able to get through. He didn't want to get through, though, for that meant that he might harm someone, which would most diffidently get him expelled from Hogwarts. Remus closed his eyes, for once wishing he could be back home.

A short click was heard from the opposite side of the room. Remus` brown eyes shot open in alarm, for he knew that anyone who went near him could be in danger. His eyes quickly adjusted and narrowed on a tall person entering the room and shutting the door behind him. When the figure turned around, Remus gasped. "Professor Dumbledore! You shouldn't`t be in here!"

Dumbledore smiled kindly and sat on the cot next to Remus. "Hello, Remus," he said, looking down at the slightly terrified boy. "I`m here to tell you tonight`s procedure."

"Tonight`s procedure?" Remus asked, unsure of what he was getting at. He normally wouldn't have been so unsure, but as he was so startled as to why his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be in the same room with him right before his transformation, he was.

"Yes, tonight`s procedure. Tonight is the full moon, as you are well aware. See out that window behind you?"he asked, pointing to it. Remus stood up and looked out the window to see a large willow tree. "That`s the Whomping Willow. Underneath it is a passage way that will take you to a shack on top of the hill overlooking Hogsmeade. You will stay there until you are done with your transformation. After you are done, you may return to Hogwarts and presume your lessons and activities."

Remus gaped at him. "But sir, I don`t see how a tree is going to keep me from getting....getting near people...and..."

"Tell you what, Remus, why don`t you come with me?" Dumbledore asked, standing up to his full height and offering a hand to Remus.

  
  
  
  


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Lily Evans looked down at her blank sheaf of parchment. She was in her History of Magic class and was supposed to be taking notes. She would have, too, if it wasn't for that blasted James Potter. No matter how much she tried she just couldn't seem to get her mind off him. True, she supposed that he was all that bad, for nearly every girl that saw him practically tripped over in astonishment. He was the James Potter, the only son of one of the most prestigious wizarding couples in Great Britain. He was supposed to hate her, and she was supposed to hate him. She did hate him...sort of. Lily tapped her neatly-painted nails (or once neatly-painted nails, for excessive digging in the Herbology greenhouses was causing it to chip off) absentmindedly on the corner of her desk. Yes, she thought to herself, I hate James. No, Potter, she corrected herself. She let out a sigh of exasperation. She bit on her quill too hard, and ink squirted all over her desktop. Frustrated, Lily wiped up the mess with the aforementioned blank parchment and quickly crumpled it up, leaving it a crinkly, ink-stained heap on the corner of her desk.

Sirius, who had been watching Lily with somewhat of an amused expression on his face, arched his eyebrow towards the ceiling when Lily collapsed onto her desk and let out a long sigh. He knew that she was thinking about the James. She had been all day, just as James had been thinking of her all day. Even though they didn't tell him, Sirius could tell that something had happened between Lily and James that morning. There was some unspoken agreement between them to not talk about it, too. However, as Sirius was always into the middle of things, he wanted to know what exactly that was. 

"Psst....Lily!" he whispered at her. 

Lily`s head shot up from its resting place on her desk. "What?"

"What`s going on between you and James?"

Lily frowned and tried to look busy by shuffling through the vast, boring pages of Hogwarts: A History. "Nothing," she said, pausing on a page with the history of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts.

Sirius, of course, was not convinced by her act, as he had four sisters of his own that did the very same thing, Thyme in particular. "No, really. What happened this morning?"

Lily`s frown deepened. "I`ll tell you later tonight," she said, closing her book and putting it back in her rucksack. "But for now," she added pleasantly, "class is over." Sirius glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly half past noon. Not wanting to miss lunch, Sirius desperately shoved all of his belongings into his sack and stood up, rushing out the door after Lily. 

After he was halfway down the hall, he realized that Lily was not going down the corridor that lead to the Great Hall. "Oy! Lil! Where are you going?" he shouted after her. She suddenly stopped and turned around, almost causing Sirius to run into her. "You forgot already? Honestly, Si, you`re almost as bad as Potter! We`re going to visit Remus in the infirmary, remember?"

Sirius, as casually as possible, ran a hand through his black hair and smiled. A passing second year ran into the wall as she watched him. Pretending he did not notice this, he said, "Oh, of course I remember...Right, then. Let`s go." 

Lily shook her head but continued to smile. "You`re helpless, Black. C`mon, now," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him along behind her. 

  
  


When they reached the entrance of the infirmary, Lily and Sirius found James pounding furiously on the door and shouting so loud that all of the people in the nearby paintings had fled to the next corridor over. James, upon seeing them, abruptly stopped and looked at them. His hair was even more untidy than usual, his thin, black-rimmed glasses had slid to the tip of his nose again, and his face was a brilliant shade of red from his shouting. "Well, hello there," he said, adjusting the collar of his black robes. "Guess what? The door`s locked and no one will answer. Madame Potts wouldn't even come when I said I had a broken arm."

"Well, Potter," said Lily, rolling her bright green eyes, "that is probably because the notice on the door says that the infirmary has moved to the third corridor on the sixth floor." Lily nodded in the direction of the bright pink piece of parchment posted on the side of the door. Sure enough, she was right. 

James inspected it with a look of absolute fury on his face. "Well, I was just double-checking, you know. Never can be too sure," he lied, trying to cover up the fact that he had completely missed a two foot long piece of brilliant pink parchment that was the notice.

Sirius chuckled. "Honestly, Black, you`re as helpless as that blonde girl you`re going to Hogsmeade with." Lily giggled and cupped her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle it.

James looked stunned. "You mean she was serious?" he asked, suddenly looking terrified.

Sirius let out a snort of laughter. "James! She`s been after you since the first day of school! Of course she`s serious!"

James staggered back a couple of feet and leaned against the door of the former infirmary. "You`re kidding, right?"

Lily stepped in: "No, he`s not. Rumors are flying all over the school about you two. Do you mean to say that she isn't your girlfriend?"

"NO!" shrieked James, his breathing becoming frantic. "I don`t like her at all!"

Sirius let a rueful grin break across his face. "Really? She looked rather...well, pretty...especially in those robes- "

"Beauty isn't everything," snapped Lily, tapping her foot on the floor, making the sound echo down the practically empty corridor.

Sirius kept grinning. "Aww, Lil, don`t worry. You`re beautiful. Even James said so."

James` head shot up from its former position. He truly looked terrified now. "Si!" he said harshly, his hazel eyes opened to their fullest extent. Normally, James would have said it louder, but he was in too much of shock at what Sirius had just said. True, he had told Sirius that Lily Evans was beautiful. Gorgeous, even. How couldn't she be? She had long, tanned legs, beautiful, curly red hair, and the most brilliant green eyes he had ever seen in his life. Currently, those brilliant green eyes were wide with the same shock as James was experiencing. Then, Lily did the unexpected. She ran as fast as those long, tanned legs of hers could carry her.

James quickly took three paces and smacked Sirius up the backside of his head. "Ouch!" Sirius cried out, rubbing his hand over the spot were James had hit him. "What was that for?"

"For telling Lily that I think she`s beautiful!"

Sirius frowned. "James, girls love that kind of thing....All my sisters do, at least."

"But Lily isn't your sister!"huffed James, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, she practically is. She was yours once too," retorted Sirius, placing a hand on his hip and pointing his index finger at James. "What happened this morning, James? You and Lily have been acting very strange since breakfast. Tell me the truth."

James sighed and bit his lip. "Care for a lunch by the lake while I tell you?"

  
  
  
  


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Professor Dumbledore lead Remus Lupin out onto the Hogwarts grounds wordlessly. Remus had remained silent since they left the infirmary ward, but only because he wasn't sure if he should attempt to make conversation or not. Dumbledore walked in front of him and, Remus noticed, he looked quite taller than he actually was because of his long and pointed hat propped up on his head. It truly made Remus realize how small he was compared to the grandeur of the Hogwarts castle. In fact, it made him feel really short, though he was nearly a head taller than most of the witches and wizards his age already. 

It also made him feel extremely naive, even though he considered himself very well-diverse. He had no idea what Dumbledore was on about. He was supposed to stay in the infirmary during his transformation, wasn't he? And what exactly was that willow tree for? For him? Surely they wouldn't let that wild tree destroy him on the grounds because he was a werewolf, would they? Well, if that was the case, he had a good mind to go straight to the Ministry and complain...That is just pure discrimination against werewolves, he thought bitterly. Besides, it wasn't his fault the blasted thing had bitten him. 

Finally, Remus` thoughts were broken when Dumbledore spoke. "Alright, Remus. See that tree?" he said, pointing to a large willow tree.

Remus looked in the direction that Dumbledore`s long finger pointed. "You mean the one that`s punching the air?" he asked, eyeing a ferocious-looking tree that was flailing its branches wildly around. Remus gulped hard.

"Precisely," said Dumbldore, twirling the end of his beard. "Right, then. I`ll show you what to do so you`ll be able to get past it."

Remus blinked. He was going to live. All of a sudden, he thought of how ridiculous he had been. There was no way on earth that he would be killed on school grounds because he was a werewolf. No way on earth. He smiled and followed Dumbledore to the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. Remus stopped. "Er, Professor? I thought we weren't supposed to go into the Forbidden Forrest....I mean, it is forbidden, isn't it?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I`m glad you take notice to rules, Remus...unlike some of your friends," he added, laughing a bit. "Well, it is true in saying that the Forrest is indeed forbidden, but we must make somewhat of an exception for you. You see, the Forrest is going to act as a secret passageway to you."

Remus blinked. "Pardon?"

Dumbledore laughed. "My, this must be quite confusing for you. Let`s just say I`ll take you through step-by-step-- sort of give you a tour and feel for what you will be doing tonight, eh?"

Remus halfway nodded and shook his head at the same time. "Right, then. Show me."

Dumbledore crooked his head to the side. "That`s a laddie," he said, bending over and grabbing a very long stick from the ground. "Hold this." Remus did, his knees bending slightly from the weight of it. "Now walk towards the tree," Dumbledore commanded. 

Remus stared at him in disbelief. Perhaps Dumbledore did want to kill him after all. "What? Have you lost your head?"

"Oh, no, thank you. It`s still attached very firmly. Now, see that large knot on the tree there? Right there at the base?" Remus nodded, albeit shakily. "Well, you have to prod it with that stick."

Remus stood still, rigid with the fear of attempting to do what Dumbledore had just said. It all looked like a terribly large jousting event, and the tree had the longer javelin. Remus didn't like his odds in the slightest.

"Well go on, boy," said Dumbledore, giving him a good nudge in the back, causing Remus to teeter slightly, as he was still under the weight of the branch. Remus sighed deeply before charging forth, hearing the whops of encouragement from Professor Dumbledore behind him. He saw the branched swing down before him thrashing madly, but he charged on, keeping his aim straight for the knot. With one last thrust Remus speared the Whomping Willow`s knot and all went still. A large hole formed at the base of the tree in the ground and Remus stepped forward.

  
  
  
  


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Lily ran all the way up to the Gryffindor girls` dormitories before she stopped to take a breath. Gasping for air, she turned the knob of the first year dormitory that she shared with her room mates. She flopped down on her bed in spread-eagle fashion, staring up at the red velvet material that hung around her four-poster. She couldn't believe it. James liked her...He thought she was beautiful. It was true, she could tell, for the way James had acted wasn't your typical collected James Potter. He was a very furious and disbelieving James Potter- not at all his usual self.

And she liked it. She really, truly liked it-- not that she would admit it to herself. She just liked the newfound control over him. She had never been able to control anybody but Remus, and even then she didn't want to control him. Lily simply adored Remus, and to control him was to take away what endeared him so much to her. But to bend James Potter at her will-- well, that would be plenty payback on her behalf. 

She missed Remus terribly. He was the only one she could really relate to out of their little circle of friends. Sirius Black was, well, Sirius Black. There was no way to explain him, really, except by saying that he was a free soul. He did as he pleased and often paid for it, but the point was that he did as he pleased. James was famous, of course, by being the son of two of the greatest witches and wizards of the century. James was conceited at times as well as daft when it came to that of the obvious, but he could very easily figure out something most would consider impossible. He was a walking contradiction. Remus, however, was much like her, and she adored him for it. He was the one she could relate to. He stayed up late in the Gryffindor common room to keep her company, he read books and actually enjoyed them, and he liked her for who she was, not what she should be. Having to be with Sirius Black and James Potter all day and some of the night with no one to truly talk to was horribly depressing. She missed Remus. She hadn't seen him in what seemed to be forever.

She sighed and looked out of her four-poster`s curtains and onto her night stand. On it was a witch`s clock which was about five inches long and lined with a highly polished brass trim. It showed the time, what her next lesson was (Herbology), and the current lunar phase. She looked at it and saw that tonight was the night of the full moon. It was strange, really, how it struck her as though something was awry. She felt it, instantly, as though something was wrong. It stole her breath away. It felt as though Remus was sick for a reason, a reason she did not know of-- one that he would not tell her. She looked at the clock again. The full moon on the clock looked up at her with a sorrowful expression, and she suddenly knew what was wrong.

  
  
  
  


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Sirius Black and James Potter walked down the Entrance Hall at a steady, even pace. Their shoes clicked as they walked on the hard, marble surface of the floor, causing echos to repel around the long hall. They walked in absolute silence, not willing to talk until outside of the school`s massive doors. What had happened back in the infirmary ward still loomed over their heads. Why, exactly, James` thoughts on Lily`s beauty had flown out of Sirius` mouth was indeed still a mystery, and it was about to be solved over a walk around the lake. Not only would that be solved, but the great mystery of exactly what had happened between James and Lily prior to breakfast. 

Black reached out a long arm and pulled one of the doors open, emitting he and James onto the grounds of the school. It was a fair day, remarkable enough for England, but the air surrounding them was freezing. Sirius, determined to find out what had happened, pulled his cloak tighter around him and marched on in the direction of the lake, even though his teeth were chattering like mad. James followed dully behind, somewhat wading in Sirius` wake; that is, until Sirius turned around and caught James by his collar and dragged him up beside him.

"So," Sirius began, exhaling the cold air into a cloud of smoke before him, "what happened between you and Lily this morning?"

James pushed his glasses further up on his nose and looked at Sirius sidelong. "What do you mean what happened?"

Sirius shoved his hand deeply into his pockets and frowned. "You know what I mean, James. Why are you and Lily being so....so civil to each other?"

James paused from his walking and looked out at the lake, seeing the giant squid flailing about across the water. "Sometimes you just do things, Sirius. You just do, no matter what happens."

  
  


Sirius Black starred disbelievingly at James Potter. He had gone completely slack-jawed and his blue eyes were open to their fullest extent. That was the answer he had been waiting for? There was no way on this earth that Sirius could truly make sense of that, and sense was exactly what he wanted at the moment. An indigent sound came from the depths of Sirius` throat. Then, furious, Sirius snapped. "What do you bloody mean you just do things?! What would these things be, Potter? Are you and Evans completely and totally enemies, but you`re occasionally snogging partners?! That`s the only way I can see that even remotely makes -- "

"That is NOT what happened with Evans and I!" James shouted back, causing a couple of nearby owls to flutter out of their resting places on the willow tree by the lake. 

Sirius was not convinced. "Oh, really? Well, you certainly could have fooled me, Potter. What, then, actually did happen this morning, hmm? Answer me that one," he spat.

James` face scrunched up in utter fury. "Well, for your information, Black, Lily was crying this morning and all last night! I only tried to help her, and in turn, she was actually nice to me for the first time in two years! If you had just been there once you would have realized what she`s going through right now! And here I was, thinking the two of you were bloody Bonnie and Clyde!" he bellowed, paying no attention the other students that had crowed around the windows of the library that looked out onto the grounds. Indeed, they had been watching for quite some time, and had actually started to choose sides during the argument.

Sirius, both furious and exasperated, threw his hands up into the cold autumn air. "FINE, THEN!" he screamed, turning on his heel and marching back up to the castle, leaving James in a similar state by the lake. James ran a hand through his untidy mop of black hair and stormed off in the opposite direction. The students in the window could only gape.

  
  
  
  


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Remus Lupin looked down into the hole at the base of the Whomping Willow, and then he turned around and looked at Dumbledore, who was smiling gleefully. Remus sighed and put his hand on his hip, turning back to look down into the hole. It looked very deep. He scratched his mop of dark brown hair and stared down into it, wondering what it was for. He heard Dumbledore coming up behind him. 

"Well done, Remus," he said, smiling kindly down at Remus from his height. "Now step in there," he ordered.

Remus stared. Not again, he thought wearily. Was Dumbledore trying to bury him alive? Well, he thought hastily, that will never work. As it so happens, I am an excellent digger. Remus stood still and squared his shoulders, looking dubiously down at the hole.

"Oh, come now, Remus. It won`t bite. Step in there. I`ll follow you," said Dumbledore, somewhat chuckling. He removed his tall hat and put it in the inside pocket of his midnight blue robes that had bright silver stars dancing around on it. Every now and then they would clump together and form various constellations. 

Remus took a shaky breath. Well, what did he have to loose? He took a step forward and fell somewhere around seven feet into the Earth. Before he jumped, he wondered if he would ever reach the bottom, but the thought was quickly banished when his feet hit the solid earth and he came crashing down to his knees in a matter of mere seconds. He quickly jumped back up and dusted himself off, coughing all the while from the incredible amount of dirt that had found its way into his mouth. He saw that there was a tunnel directly in front of him and he wondered if he should follow it, but he decided against it because Dumbledore wasn't with him yet.

Shortly after Remus had discovered the tunnel, Albus Dumbledore fell down the hole and followed the same procedure as Remus. After he was done coughing, he told Remus to move forward, pointing one long, dirt covered finger in the direction of the tunnel, and Remus easily obliged. 

They walked on for what seemed like hours. Sometimes they would have to crawl on their hands and knees through the tunnel, and other times they could walk freely; but however the height from the ceiling to the floor changed, the material of it was consistent: dirt. The dirt walls of the tunnel were roughly scratched and carved, and the floor was muddy at one point and had puddles everywhere. When the ceiling of the tunnel began to leak drops of salt water, Remus had the strong feeling that they were somewhere under the lake. Remus shuddered then, hoping the lake wouldn't come crashing down over him, or even worse, the giant squid.

Still, they charged on, going uphill and downhill until at long last they reached their destination. Remus was climbing dirt steps with Professor Dumbledore panting softly behind him. Just before Remus`s legs felt as though they were going to completely give way, Remus spotted a wooden door some twenty feet in front of him. It was as though Remus had seen the most beautiful creature in all of England. He desperately rushed towards it as fast as his tired legs could carry him, almost tripping himself with excitement, until his dirty fingers enclosed around the small brass door knob and he pushed it open.

He was almost disappointed. It was a small room, dark, with many odd objects hanging on the walls. He had come all his way for this. He sighed roughly and slumped one shoulder back onto one of the walls of the square-shaped room. Dumbledore came in shortly after, wheezing and clutching his chest tightly, and then doubling over and putting his hands on his knees. He looked up at Remus through his half-moon spectacles and said, "I`m getting much too old for this." When he gained his composure back, he gestured around the dark room with one long arm and said, "Welcome, Remus, to the cellar of the place where you will be staying."

Remus instantly let out a sigh of relief. Dumbledore chuckled a bit and said, "Follow me." Dumbledore made his way over to the opposite side of the room with Remus trailing behind, reached to move a coil of garden hose, and revealed yet another door. He opened it to find a short staircase going upwards and into a room with dim lights that bounced eerily through the doorframe and down the staircase to where Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin were standing, instantly illuminating their faces. Dumbledore and Remus began to climb the staircase, and it didn't take them long to reach the top of it. "Welcome," said Dumbledore to Remus, "to the Shrieking Shack."

Remus looked around the dimly lit room. A purple fire was glowing in the hearth, casting an eiree glow around the room. The room was full of furniture, and Remus supposed this was a good thing, for he would probably get caught up in chewing the furniture rather than humans. Oddly-shaped lamps sat on tall, slender-legged tables, and the chairs were in a variety of shapes and sizes. One chair, he noticed, looked like a throne, standing tall and proud in the furthest corner of the room, the purple fire casting an odd glow against the gold and emerald encrusted stature of the chair. Also, right next to the throne chair was a small, shabby wooden stool that looked no bigger than a small dog. How peculiar, Remus thought.

Lupin let his eyes travel slowly over the room, taking his time to look at every detail. His eyes suddenly landed on a painting on the opposite wall. It looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't quite place why when he couldn't see the painting properly in the dim light. Curious, he moved closer to it, occasionally stumbling over the many objects that filled the room. Under his breath he muttered lumos and shown the ray of light on the painting. He gasped at what he saw.

  
  
  
  


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Lily Evans sprinted down the long corridor that lead to the library. She had to find out if it was true. If everything matched up, then Remus was what she thought he was. The library doors were only a matter of feet away, and Lily`s legs were beginning to ache from the flat-out running, as she had ran all the way from the very top of the Gryffindor, all the way down seven flights, and through a maze of corridors- not to mention she forgot the trick step Peter Pettigrew always fell into and she got stuck until David Barbecus helped her out of it as the nearby paintings shot startled and curious looks her way. Even now the painting were looking at her with curiosity, as it wasn't everyday you saw a student in the same state as Lily. She was out of breath, but continuing to run, her hair was sticking out at very odd angles, and her she was talking to herself.

"Come on, Lily, almost there now....Just a few more feet...Easy does it..." she coached herself. Every painting had their eyes following Evans as she drew near to the library. Lily was closing in on her target. Finally, she reached out one hand, grasping around for the door knob, before she was hit square in the forehead by something very, very hard.

It turned out to be the library door itself. Apparently, someone was just opening the door to leave from inside the library just before Lily had gotten to it, causing Lily to get hit in the head and fall flat on her back onto the hard, marble floor. That someone that had been opening the door was bending over Lily. Lily Evans blinked and opened her bright green eyes and looked up to see Professor Minerva McGonagall looking down at her in a concerned fashion. Lily blinked again, hard, to get rid of the little stars dancing around her professor`s head. 

Lily slowly sat up and looked at Professor McGonagall carefully before she burst into words. "Professor! I need to get to the library! I need to! I have to know if it`s true! If-"

McGonagall looked worried and placed a hand over Lily`s forehead, obviously checking for a temperature. "Miss Evans, are you alright? You feel a little hot-"

"I am fine, Professor! I`ve been running... But, you see, I just have to get to the library....Remus Lupin is in trouble!" she explained in a rush, standing up quickly.

McGonagall straightened up and put her hands on her hips. "Nonsense. That`s impossible. Remus Lupin is under more protection that the rest of the school. There is no way that he could be even in the slightest trouble," she said, looking down at Lily.

"Yes, that may be so, Professor, but I still need to get to the library," said Evans, looking up at the professor with pleading eyes.

"Very well, then. Continue on, Miss Evans. And two points from Gryffindor for running in the halls," she said before she turned and went down another corridor.

Lily noticed the paintings all turning back to stare at her. "Well, what are you staring at?" she half-said, half-shouted, before turning back around and marching into the library. The paintings just simply looked abashed in their frames.

She normally would`ve cared about having been the cause for point deductions in her house, but her mind was far to busy thinking of Remus and what she had just discovered. He`s a werewolf, she though frantically as she began to scour the library shelves for the thick, leather-bound book entitled So You Think You`re a Werewolf by Grinolda Gosshalk. Why didn't he tell me? I mean, I can understand why he wouldn't tell James, who has the biggest mouth I`ve ever seen, or even Sirius, who lets things fly out of his mouth when he isn't supposed to, but why not me? she thought hotly as she searched in the W section. 

Finally, she pulled the book she had been searching for from the shelf and nearly ran over to a table close by. She opened the book to its table of contents and searched for the chapter on symptoms. After a few seconds she found it and eagerly flipped to the page and began reading as fast as her eyes could scan over the pages.

  
  
  
  


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James Potter had walked himself all the way to the Quidditch pitch in his fury. He really hated fighting with Sirius. This was probably because he always a) did not listen, b) threw in sharp comments, and c) made him feel as though everything was his fault, even though he knew it wasn't, or d) all of the above. James continued to walk across the damp, grassy pitch and marveled at the at the stands that seemed to soar high above him. Indeed, they were a good fifty feet above him in order to allow the students to see the actual game, but they seemed taller than ever.

Quidditch, it seemed, was his only love. True, there was Lily, but he supposed that was merely puppy love unrequited, as she obviously did not like him in return. But Quidditch.... Well, that was something. He had followed the remarkable flying game since he was very young, ever since he discovered that his uncle had flown for England when he was in his prime. Since that time, he had become very fascinated with the game, and hoped to someday play on Gryffindor`s team, or even professionally. He wished they would change the rules about not being able to play on the team until their second year, but he knew he would make it when the time came. His father had hired Miles Winton, a professional player from England, to teach James how to fly since he was eight years old. There was no doubt in his mind that he would make the team.

  
  


However, Quidditch wasn't on his mind at the moment; Lily Evans was. He liked her, that much he knew. When he had sat on her this morning, he felt this immense sensation, or perhaps that was just her elbow that was jammed in his rib. Either way, it was a sensation; the same sensation he got whenever he was around her: a weird, tingly feeling in his chest. And when she had cried into him this morning, that tingly feeling shot through his body. Yes, he had it bad for Lily Evans. 

  
  
  
  


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Sirius Black had stormed himself back to the entrance of Hogwarts, which was probably the last place he ever wanted to be at the moment, cursing under his breath all the way. A few passing students had stared at him, but he was sure to properly yell at them before continuing his storming off. After that, even the frogs knew better than to get within a ten foot radius of him. He stomped up the stone steps and yanked the door open as hard as he could, scaring a second year girl out of her wits in the process. Paying no attention to the wide-eyed brunette, he continued to storm past. He liked that, storming about.

Just what was it with James Potter? He was as bloody unsteady as you could possibly get. One minute he`s preaching about the finer points of hating Lily Evans, and the next he`s making all the goggle-eyed faces at her.

Sirius flexed his hands into tight fists, and he was quite sure that if he ran into someone, they would be blacked out by his punch.

And Lily. She wasn't talking to him. Why wasn't she talking to him? They used to be good friends, as good as you could get, but lately she seemed upset with him. Perhaps it was because he was around James Potter a lot, or perhaps it was he wasn't spending every minute with her, or perhaps it was because he wasn't exactly earning house points for Gryffindor. After all, he had gotten in trouble many, many times, and all with James at that, but was that any reason to not talk to him? He was, despite what some might think, human. He did have feelings, dammit.

Sirius increased his pace, which was quite remarkable for he was practically walking as fast as you could go before you broke out into a run, as he rounded a corner and ran smack into to someone. Now throughly furious, Sirius jumped up and almost tripped because his robes had somehow managed to wrangle themselves into the world`s largest knot. He made a very frustrated noise and waved his arms around before he looked down at the person he had ran into.

It was Lily.

"Oh, that`s just great!" she shouted, pounding her hands down onto the floor and looking up at Sirius. "Look what you`ve done!" she said, gesturing around to several books, quills, parchment scrolls, and notes that had been strewn across the floor during their collision.

Sirius instantly felt guilty and his nerves slipped away. He got down on his knees and began helping Lily pick up all of her things and put them into a bag; that is, until he picked up a book titled So You Think You`re a Werewolf. "Lily?" he asked, looking at her suspiciously, "What is this for?"

Lily bit her lip nervously. Well, she thought, he is one of Remus`s friends too... "It`s for research."

"And why would you be researching..." Sirius paused and looked at this book. "werewolves? Lil, you aren't a werewolf, are you?" he asked, looking at her with his concerned blue eyes.

"No," she answered honestly.

"Then why do you have it?" he asked. Lily reached for it, but he drew his arm back further behind him so Lily couldn't get it. They struggled on like this for a few more moments before Sirius stood up and held the book high over his head, which was well out of reaching distance for Lily Evans. "Just tell me, Lily, and you`ll get your darling book back."

"Because Remus is a werewolf, and if you just--"

"Remus is a WHAT?!" 

  
  
  
  


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Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, me own none, so you no sue! (Just had to say that... But as far as the plot goes, get your hands off.:)

  
  


NOTE: Ah...Another chapter, and this time it's nearly two years late. Talk about a cliffhanger, eh? Sorry for those who have been waiting*grins sheepishly*. I fell victim to one hell of a writer's block... Anyway, on with the show...Thanks to everyone who reviewed/will review. Honestly, you guys are like my energy source... You make sure to proverbially kick my butt when I don`t put anything out for a while, and I truly thank you for that, no matter how many band-aids I need when you`re done doing so. Major kudos go to those who have me on their favorites list and/or Author Alert. You guys are the best! Also, in the next chapter I`m going to put out a major thank-you section to every single person who has reviewed so far, all the *special* reviewers (those who have left something for every chapter), inspirations, and make complete and total idiots out of anybody who has left a flame....Gee, how quaint. It`ll be the All-Humiliation Network. ^__^ 

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS: Yes, I do know that Dumbledore was headmaster before everyone came along, but do bear with me, as I had forgotten when I first introduced him and, obviously, I'm too far along to take it all back. So sorry for the inconvenience. 

By the way, I would really like your comments on this chapter. Was it too long??? I`m not really sure whether this story is going down the right path, the wrong path, or if it is even going down a path at all, and any suggestions or comments on this would be really helpful.:) Ooh, what do you think`s going to happen next? I know! I think...Wait, maybe....not....uh...No, actually, I do know, but I'm open for suggestions/comments. Kudos!

SO DON`T BE A CHICKEN! FILL OUT A REVIEW!!!!

  
  



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